F1 drivers back move to standalone sprints

The revised rules have been agreed with the teams and are set to be formally approved next week and then used in Azerbaijan, the venue for the first of this season’s six sprint events.

Fridays will run to a familiar sprint pattern with FP1 followed by qualifying, but with the grid counting for Sunday’s main event.

In place of FP2 a shorter version of qualifying will be run on Saturday to determine the grid positions for the sprint later that day.

Many drivers have…