F1 News: Christian Horner Brands Parc Ferme "A Joke" During Sprint Race Weekends After Austin GP Madness

Teams got just one session to set the car up which might have also contributed to the skid block violations.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has effectively labelled the parc ferme rules a joke from last weekend in Austin due to the latest Sprint race changes that offered teams just one session to set their car before they were locked up.

Formula 1 made changes to the Sprint format for six races of the 2023 season by shifting the Grand Prix qualifying to Friday afternoon. Then the Sprint Shootout and Sprint Race happen as usual on Saturday, before ending the weekend on Sunday with the Grand Prix. 

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But because the GP qualifying was shifted to Friday, cars are placed under parc ferme rules after Friday morning's single free practice session. That means the teams are subject to strict limits on what they can change on their cars for the rest of the weekend.  

A direct impact of this rule most probably caused Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to be disqualified due to excessive skid block wear in Austin while teams that were forced to make changes to their car's setup had to start from the pitlane.

Considering the drama that ensued the entire weekend, Horner believes that the parc ferme rule was a joke that caused teams to lock their setups after running for just one hour on Friday. All this, for a Sprint race that doesn't seem to offer that many rewards to anybody. He told the media:

"For me, parc ferme is a bit of a joke. You have one session to set your car up. And then the engineers may as well go home at that point.

"So, that needs looking at and that I'm sure was a contributing factor to the ride height issues of the teams that fell foul of the regulations.

"Effectively, it's just a long run on a sprint race. And there's no real jeopardy to it, there's no real incentive behind it."

Speaking further on the Sprint format, Horner insists that F1 must ask fans if it entertains them. He added:

"We should really go to the fans and get their feedback as well. What is it that they want?

"I think it'd be interesting to look at the data at the end of the year of how popular the sprint race has been because, at the end of the day, it's all about the fans.

"The reason we do sprint races is to try and provide more entertainment to create a more attractive event.

"We have to be honest with ourselves at the end of the year when we've got all the samples of the sprint races and say: 'Okay, what can we do better? What can be learned? And how can we improve the spectacle?'

"If the drivers enjoy it and find it rewarding, and the teams find it rewarding, then I think the fans ultimately will."