F1 tweaked its format for this weekend’s opening sprint race of the 2023 season in Baku, with a free practice session on Friday followed by qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

The Saturday afternoon sprint race now features a shorter sprint qualifying ‘shootout’, meaning drivers will plunge straight into competitive action in the morning without practice sessions to warm up.

According to Sainz, being thrown straight into the deep end on Saturday morning will be a huge challenge for the drivers.

“It’s going to be difficult, especially waking up in the morning and going straight into the first quarter.

“I need to warm up really well, maybe take a cold shower, make sure I’m actually waking up because I’m going to give it my all in these cars first thing in the morning. I’m going to make sure I do my morning routine well because It’s going to be tense.”

Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso believes Saturday will now be extra “nervous”, although he believes F1 drivers and fans “have to accept” the new format.

“I understand the point of doing something different at the weekend, so we have to accept that, we have to help F1 and hopefully the fans will give us good feedback at the weekend,” he added.

“But it’s more stressful, especially Saturday. We eat breakfast, get in the car, buckle up and go into the first quarter.

“It’s completely new because even in 2004 or 2006 we had to practice before qualifying. Now we don’t have any practice and we’re going into Q1. So yeah, it’s definitely stressful for the drivers, Also more difficult.”

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team, Lance Stroll, Aston Martin F1 Team

Photography: Zak Mauger / motorsport pictures

During the shortened Q1 of the sprint shootout, Q2 and Q3 drivers will only have one set of Medium, Medium and Soft respectively available.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon believes that by shortening the qualifying time to start the day with a set of tires at each stage, drivers have more room for error.

“I think it’s great as a driver that you go straight into qualifying without practice, because that can create some uncertainty,” he said.

“Some drivers won’t stay sane, they’ll make mistakes and it won’t be the same.

“It brings opportunity and skill to the drivers and more importantly, so I’m looking forward to it.”

One of the main reasons for the change was to decouple the sprint race from the main race of the grand prix, so drivers will be encouraged to take more risks as any sprint accidents will no longer affect their grid position on Sunday.

But some drivers don’t think it will make a big difference, as damaging cars in sprints can still be a headache for teams under the cost cap.

“There’s still a budget cap, so you don’t want to damage the car in any way,” said McLaren’s Lando Norris. “You don’t do anything stupid.

“Especially for us, when we want to improve the car as much as possible, the less damage we can do, the better.

“But I’m excited. I think it’s a better format. I like it better than what we had before. So you have more space, more opportunities for everybody.”

Red Bull’s world champion Max Verstappen added: “Of course, now there are more risks involved in qualifying and other things.

“But I think when you look at the sprint race itself, I think the risk is the same, because you don’t want to potentially damage your car, which of course also affects the development of the car, right?

“Then I thought I’d rather lose a point than lose development.”