Singapore Sprint Fails the Test F1 Wanted, as Drivers Round on Monaco's Sprint Debut

SINGAPORE — When Formula 1 announced its 2026 sprint race locations, one track always stood out as unusual. Since F1 introduced its sprint race weekend format in 2021 — replacing two practice sessions with an extra qualifying and an additional race run to one-third of a grand prix distance — it has tended to favor tracks with plenty of overtaking opportunities.

Tracks such as Silverstone, Monza, the Red Bull Ring and Interlagos all offered up decent sprint races thanks to their tendency for action. But Singapore? A street track, where overtaking is usually much harder with the walls so close? That is not a prime place for a sprint. And F1 saw on Saturday exactly why — which only justifies the confusion and concern about the championship's recent decision to add a sprint race in Monaco from next year.

A format stretched ever wider

F1's sprint format has expanded over time, going from three in 2021 and 2022 to the current six from 2023. Next year, the figure jumps again to 10 weekends with sprints. Race promoters want a sprint on their weekend billing, with the promise of more competitive action adding value to tickets — and a chance to increase prices. A three-day main grandstand ticket for Singapore this year was $195 up on 2025.

"Sprint races are an opportunity that, first of all, started because we wanted to produce something that could create action on the track, creating leverage for the promoter and ourselves to create (earlier race) action on the tracks," explained F1's CEO, Stefano Domenicali, in a Liberty Media investors call in August. Liberty Media owns F1's commercial rights and runs the championship.

Some 2027 locations fit that bill by creating action on the track through exciting racing. Silverstone, Monza and Interlagos all return and are natural fits. Bahrain, Australia and Canada also have potential for exciting sprints. But then there is Monaco, which will host a sprint for the first time next year, despite probably being the worst place to do so as its course is so narrow.

Holding two races — the sprint and the grand prix — on the track where drivers complain it is impossible to overtake, the cars having long outgrown the confines of the principality's streets, seems like a very strange move, especially as there is also no pit stop strategy variety in a regular sprint, as the tires can easily last the distance.

Monaco's Saturday is about qualifying, not racing

When F1 announced Monaco was getting a sprint, it boasted that it meant two qualifying sessions. Saturday in Monaco is, indeed, one of the best days of the season, with drivers pushing to the limit between the barriers to get the best spots on the grid. Pole in Monaco almost always guarantees a win, as passing is so hard for the rest.

Doubling the qualifying action does not change the fact that the races there are a procession, to the point that F1 and the FIA even experimented with changing the tire rules in 2025 to try to induce some action — and it didn't work. One could also argue that a sprint race would remove some of the tension and build-up to Saturday's full qualifying session, which typically grows through practice as the drivers push the limit by getting closer to the walls through FP1, FP2 and FP3.

Singapore a poor omen for Monaco

Singapore was therefore a good test of what a true street-race sprint would be like — a preview of what could be expected next year in Monaco. It was a poor omen.

Saturday's race had the recipe for entertainment. Pre-race rain delayed the start and left the track damp, and only 13 cars made it to the finish line after a series of incidents. It started with George Russell's unforced error at the end of the first lap, spinning into the wall on the pit straight, and ended with the McLarens colliding after Lando Norris' ambitious attempt to pass Oscar Piastri, all for a measly one championship point.

After Russell's crash, Max Verstappen won without any real pressure, after he had lost the lead to the Mercedes driver at the start. Verstappen has had the best pace so far this weekend, so F1 did not get to see if he could find a way back past Russell. But in terms of actual action, it left a lot to be desired. Beyond the incidents that took drivers out, no top-seven driver made a single overtake after the opening lap.

Behind, only Ollie Bearman, Nico Hülkenberg and Esteban Ocon made passes, all overtaking Pierre Gasly between Laps 7 and 10, out of the 20-lap distance. No driver gained places until the McLaren collision on the last lap. Even when Charles Leclerc's times nosedived in the closing stages after he "destroyed" the front tires on his Ferrari, lapping more than two seconds slower than Lewis Hamilton in the sister Ferrari ahead, it wasn't enough to give Piastri a chance to overtake. Leclerc kept enough traction to stay safe in the precious few overtaking zones, before the McLarens collided in his rear-view mirrors.

Drivers: 'It was the rain that made it exciting'

"There's like one place that you can get close to an overtake," Hamilton said in the post-sprint news conference, where he raised the idea of making layout changes to Singapore. "I thought it was fun, but if it was dry, that would have probably been the most boring race to have watched. It was the rain that made it exciting, so if you can always make it rain, then it's always going to be a great sprint race.

"But otherwise, it probably would have been straightforward, tire management, everyone sticking behind each other."

Verstappen, one of the loudest critics of F1's sprint format through the years, also said they should stick to circuits where overtaking is possible. "I think we shouldn't host a sprint where you can't pass," he said. "You have tracks where you can race and can overtake. Of course, some races you cannot pass, and we are going to have sprints there also next year. It's not what I like."

Leclerc was even more direct about street circuits in general. "I don't think it makes sense to have any sprint races on city tracks in general," he said. "We probably should use these sprints where it's easy to overtake, where you can have a lot of racing action, and it actually adds something to the weekend."

"Here or Monaco, I don't think it adds anything."

Location is everything

The tradition of supporting sprint races rests on a simple argument: two extra competitive sessions are more valuable for the viewer than two practice sessions. The F1 organization has regularly shared data showing fan positivity toward sprints, as well as improved viewership. Yet the format does change the dynamic of a race weekend, moving away from the traditional build-up of three practices, qualifying and then the grand prix, and having too many sprints on the calendar risks diluting their novelty. MotoGP's approach, of a sprint at every round of the motorcycling world championship, is not something F1 should follow.

Singapore proved that location is everything. Sprint races at tracks that do deliver great racing — as Domenicali said, it's all about trying to "create action on the track" — and plenty of overtaking opportunities will go a long way toward justifying the format to skeptics. But street tracks, on this evidence, are simply not the right place for them.