“It is absolutely ridiculous”: Red Bull team principal Christian Horner hits out at F1’s decision of hosting first sprint race at Baku

Christian Horner of Red Bull feels that it is not a good idea for Formula 1 to host the first sprint race of the season at Baku given the dangerous race it is around the track and how it could negatively impact the teams on the grid.

After two years of the introduction of sprint race weekends, 2023 will be the first time that a whopping six such races will be seen throughout the length of the calendar.

The beginning will be set at Baku, during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. This will be the first time that the track that wraps around the medieval fortress of Baku will witness a sprint weekend. Given the top speed that cars reach on this circuit, it will be pretty exciting for the fans.

However, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is largely unimpressed by the decision that F1 has made of hosting the first sprint at Baku. According to him, since the track is so dangerous already, having a sprint race will make it riskier and it could add a lot to the team's cost if their cars are involved in a crash. He said:

"The reality is that it's absolutely ridiculous to have the first sprint race of the year on a street circuit like Baku. From a fan's point of view, it's going to be one of the most exciting, but for us, all you can do is damage your car and lose money from the budget. One race is enough in Azerbaijan, so two is worrying."

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Red Bull have a bitter-sweet history with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Red Bull might have another reason to worry about the race at Baku given how their history has been on the track. During the 2018 GP, both Red Bull drivers, Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, crashed into each other on the main straight. However, the team might as well be more stable this time around. They have also won the race in the past two years on the circuit.

Apart from this being the first host of the sprint weekend this season, the Azerbaijan GP will also see a different weekend structure which has been agreed upon by the teams. The weekend will be as follows:

• Friday - Free Practice & Qualifying
• Saturday - Sprint Qualifying & Sprint Race
• Sunday - Main Race

This is quite different since according to the weekend followed previously, the finishing order of the sprint race decided the starting grid for the main race. However, that has been wiped out with two separate qualifying sessions and just one practice session.

F1's CEO, Stefano Domenicali, has been in talks about having fewer practice sessions instead of the traditional three, because, according to him, it is excessive and gets boring for fans.