Sergio Perez expresses support for huge Sprint change moving forward

Sergio Perez has put his support behind the idea of reverse grids in F1 Sprints to spice up the format moving forward, believing “we’ve got to change it” if the shortened races are to succeed.

The final Sprint of the season took place on Saturday at Interlagos, with Perez taking third place after recovering from a slow start in Sao Paulo.

Opinion remains divided on the format, with Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen in particular remaining an outspoken critic of Sprints and wanting them out of the sport altogether.

Sergio Perez calls for reverse grid solution in F1 Sprints

The calls to spice up Sprint weekends have varied, with teams calling for changes to parc fermé rules, allowing them to work on their cars beyond going into qualifying on Fridays, to a potential rejig in how the weekends will be scheduled next year – possibly bringing the Sprint Shootout to a Friday and swapping Grand Prix qualifying back to a Saturday.

But other ideas to improve the racing have included a reverse grid element, which Perez came out in favour of, believing that it would improve the show for the fans at the track and encourage more overtaking throughout the field.

“Yeah, I think we all drive to the limit that we have,” Perez said after Saturday’s Sprint.

“I think if they want to keep this format of the sprint races, we’ve got to change it.

“I would propose a reverse grid, something like that, to make it more interesting for the fans because I don’t think it’s working [for] what we want to achieve and nothing really happens in this sort of races.”

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When pressed on his support for the idea and whether he would actually welcome reverse grids coming into Formula 1 in the Sprint format, he responded: “Yeah, I would.

“I think it will mix up things and create more opportunities, a lot more overtaking.

“I mean, if we want to keep this format, give it a go and on something quite different because I think for the last two years this sort of event hasn’t brought a lot of good racing.”

Read next: Max Verstappen reveals sarcastic future Sprint wish: ‘Just a normal race weekend please’