F1 Fans Slam New Weekend Format: "A S**T Show"

F1 fans have been bluntly sharing their thoughts on the new sprint race weekend format ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

F1 fans have been reacting to the dramatic and chaotic first day of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend with some branding it a "s**t show". 

Azerbaijan is hosting the first sprint race of the season, of which the format changed this week. The second practice session in a sprint race weekend has been removed. Fridays now consist of free practice one followed by qualifying which determines the grid line-up for the grand prix which will go ahead as normal on Sunday. 

The Saturday of a sprint race weekend now holds a sprint shootout which is a shorter version of the normal qualifying session. This will determine the start positions for the sprint race which will take place in the afternoon. Nothing from the Saturday will affect the grand prix on the Sunday. 

The first day of the Azerbaijan GP weekend has been extremely dramatic with multiple red flags during both the free practice and qualifying sessions. 

Fans are still getting to grips with the new race format and have been giving their thoughts so far to social media. Taking to Reddit, one fan commented:

"That Quali was a s**t show. Wow"

Another Reddit user wrote:

"I can't get used to qualifying on a Friday.. Totally forgot."

One criticism for the new sprint race set-up is that the racing on the Saturday is completely separate to the Grand Prix, so a driver could get damage to the car which could be detrimental to their race on Sunday. Another fan commented:

"I am mentally ready for Charles' car getting wrecked in the sprint and then get a DNS from mechanic error in the Sunday race."