Charles Leclerc gives backing to reverse grids – but there’s a catch…

Charles Leclerc has said “why not” to reversing the grid but said it can only be done in sprint races and not during an actual grand prix.

Reversing the order of qualifying has long been mooted as one way to liven up but the majority of those on the F1 grid has opposed the idea. Now though, Leclerc has said under what conditions he think it could work.

Charles Leclerc suggests reverse grids to F1 sprint races

Reverse grid is not a new concept and is already in place in F2 where the Saturday Sprint Race sees the top 10 reversed but any plan of bringing into Formula 1 has so far been rejected by drivers and fans alike.

But Ferrari man Leclerc said that during sprint races, it could be worth a go, with the shorter events often a procession as teams do not want to take unwanted risk ahead of the more valuable grand prix.

Asked about reverse grids, he said “why not” to the idea of going it in sprints but not the grand prix itself.

“The reverse grid, I don’t know, not on the normal weekend. Why not consider for a sprint race? But it’s really not something that I see should be part of Formula 1’s DNA.

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“I think the way Formula 1 is at the moment is where I think it should be.”

Despite plenty of protests, Formula 1 has already upped the number of sprint races to six and there is talk that the number could rise further in future years. On the prospect, Leclerc said six was “good enough” and was against the idea of adding more.

“It’s not really something that we’ve been speaking about so much,” he said. “Yet my personal opinion is that I think the amount of sprint races we have at the moment is good enough. I wouldn’t want to go to more than that.”

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has also suggested that any more sprint races would be exciting and added it was too demanding on staff.

“Commercially, I understand his position. [F1 president] Stefano [Domenicali] is a good friend, we speak five times a week, but I also always consider the additional burden on our staff. They already travel a lot, and it’s very tiring to get more races,” he said.

“You also have to ask yourself if it’s good for the teams. There are multiple interests at stake. If you only focus on the sporting side, you run into commercial problems and vice versa. Both must be balanced.”

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