The vast majority of RaceFans readers want Formula 1 to get rid of sprint races entirely but next year’s calendar will feature even more. For some, following all 34 points-paying races is starting to become too much of a burden:
You can have too much of a good thing. And that’s if you count sprints as a good thing.
The calendar is already too long. It’s difficult enough to find time to follow each race, let alone qualifying (which I watch if I can, but won’t make a special effort to watch live). Having a sprint on another day makes things worse. Not only that, so many races reduces the anticipation. Remember when you’d wait five or six months before the first race of the season, or three weeks before the title deciding finale?
Sure, I don’t have to watch it. But there is a sense of all-or-nothing when it comes to some things. I don’t want to be a casual viewer that dips in and out of the sport I’ve always loved and made a special effort to watch.
I guess I’m not the target audience though. The business has worked out that casual viewership, at least in the short term, is good for them, so such complaints will fall on deaf ears.
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