The race weekend in Sao Paulo concluded F1's larger offering of sprint races over the 2023 season, having expanded from three to six for this year. This came amid a change where the sprint would no longer have an impact on the full grand prix's qualifying order, with Saturday acting as a standalone day for the sprint qualifying and race events.
However, reception among the drivers remains particularly tepid, with Max Verstappen vocal about his desire for F1 to abandon the sprint experiment and revert to a "normal race weekend".
This followed a sprint encounter in Brazil which had moments of intrigue beyond the top three amid races for position as tyre degradation began to bite, but could be perceived to have been less successful compared to its 2021 and 2022 offerings.
A shuffle in the order of sessions is expected for 2024, with sprint qualifying set to be moved to Fridays, but Perez has suggested that the FIA should tinker further with the format and stated that he would now advocate for a reversed-grid sprint race.
"I think if they want to keep this format of the sprint races, we've got to change it," Perez replied in response to a question from Autosport about their desired sprint weekend tweaks.
"I would propose a reverse grid, something that can make it more interesting for the fans because I don't think it's working what we want to achieve.
"Nothing really happens in this sort of races. I think [a reversed grid] will mix up things and create more opportunities, a lot more overtaking.
Source: Autosport