We are two rounds deep into Formula 1’s new era. These regulations are… different… but a section of the paddock and fanbase are starting to entertain them.

After three pretty exciting races – including the China Sprint – F1 2026 shows signs of major promise on that front. However, the lift-and-coast era of qualifying just does not cut it, and never will. Sprint races to set the grid, anyone?

F1 should rest traditional qualifying under this ruleset

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The shield of tradition around Formula 1 is broken. We’ve already had Sprint races for several years and now we have lift and coast, super-clipping and battery boosts doing the heavy lifting when it comes to performance and passing.

While the racing purist weeps in despair, those craving pure entertainment raise their hands in favour. We have seen plenty of battling and overtaking so far this year, the shining example was that four-way scrap between Mercedes and Ferrari in Shanghai.

Given that the spectacle is winning over F1’s roots, let’s protect the art of qualifying until such a time comes that drivers can go 100 per cent flat out again.

Fans are accustomed to having the purity of F1 racing tampered with. The Drag Reduction System [DRS] was already too artificial for some, and of those that embraced it for saving the show on a Sunday, it was still largely accepted for what it was: a cheat code to ensure that a car could overtake another, and keep that viewer with their finger hovering over the off switch engaged.

But, qualifying has always had that protective aura around it. Even when the Grand Prix was about DRS, or tyre management, or now batteries, qualifying had always been balls-to-the-wall, absolute attack, and the fastest driver was on pole.

Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar summed it up perfectly in Shanghai.

Told that F1 2026’s arch enemy Max Verstappen – also Hadjar’s Red Bull teammate – appears despondent over the state of Formula 1, Hadjar said: “To be fair, the racing is not too bad.

“Of course, it’s always a bit sad to arrive quite slow into some corners.

“To me, qualifying is the worst part, where between lift and coast… I just think that a race car should be reaching its top speed at the end of the straight. It’s a bit of a shame.”

Amen to that Isack, says this writer.

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“But the racing has been pretty good,” he concludes.

On that note, could we take a figurative leap and use Sprint races to set the grid for a Grand Prix? No longer a six-time-a-year attraction, the 100km battle on Saturday becomes the standard format. It makes sense as it will showcase these rules in the best possible light.

The tweaked version of qualifying could remain for setting the Sprint grid. It’s not like that is traditional Formula 1 anyway, with its tightened timeframes and mandatory tyre rules.

If the biofuel V10/8 advocates ever get their way, then, qualifying will come back into its own. But right now, it feels like a shell of its former self.

Instead of cheating the sanctity of qualifying, press pause on what we know, and let a Sprint race set the Grand Prix grid.

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