Originally Posted by ZCanadian

Agree, the sprints are rubbish.
They aren't contested because it’s better to start one or two places further back than have a DNF on Saturday and start the race from the back or pit lane, and potentially have a compromised car.
I’m not for gimmicks. They are obviously meant to increase viewership / ticket sales on Friday when they run quali on sprint weekends. The only way they would be interesting to me would be if they started the sprint in reverse finishing order from the previous weekend. This might encourage real racing on Saturday, but would eliminate Friday qualifying so it would defeat the purpose for F1.