Four-time world champion Alain Prost says he wants Formula 1 to remain “traditional” and for some rule changes to not be introduced.
The F1 trialled sprint races in qualifying at three races in the 2021 season with Lewis Hamilton impressing at the Brazilian Grand Prix. The British star as he went from P20 to P5 in the 24-lap sprint race.
The F1 are rolling out the sprints more widely in the 2022 season and Prost has voiced his concern.
“I am completely against the reverse grid [idea], for sure,” Prost told the In The Fast Lane podcast. “Formula 1 should not accept that, even for the sprint.
“It’s not because Lewis [Hamilton] has done a fantastic race starting from last [in the Sprint Qualifying at the Brazilian Grand Prix] that we should think that it’s going to be the same every time and with every driver.
“That does not happen like this. So I am much more for the tradition, and Formula 1 has to stay the way it did. I must recognise that we have more and more young fans, with the Netflix series [Drive to Survive], and we have attracted some young people, [the] young generation, which is fantastic.
“And they obviously like this kind of race that we have seen, the sprint race and Lewis’ race in Brazil, but Formula 1 has to stay more traditional.”
The F1 will return in March in the Bahrain Grand Prix where Hamilton will look to launch his record eighth world title win. He was on the cusp of winning the 2021 season before Max Verstappen claimed the title in the last lap of the final race of the campaign.
