Sep.10 - "A third" of the 23 grands prix next year will feature the new 'sprint qualifying' weekend format.
That is the news direct from the mouth of F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, who gave an interview to Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport.
The second sprint qualifying event is taking place this weekend at Monza, and the last for 2021 will be in Brazil.
"The direction is right," Domenicali said.
"For 2022 we are aiming for a calendar of 23 races, of which a third are to have this type of (sprint) format to increase the unpredictability."
However, covid continues to pose challenges even for the current 2021 calendar - including for the final sprint qualifying trial in Brazil.
"We are trying to protect ourselves from these problems as much as possible, because now we have this fight for the championship," said Domenicali.
"The mayor of Sao Paulo assured us that all the necessary measures have been taken to ensure that the race in Brazil will take place with full stands.
"As for Qatar, this option is being discussed but I cannot say anything more precisely until next week."
Domenicali is also hinting that Formula 1 will begin to mandate that teams must run young and inexperienced drivers at some practice sessions in 2022.
"This topic is very important and interesting to us, and we have some ideas that we will discuss in the next meetings with the teams," he is quoted by L'Equipe.
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The hype was try the sprints this season and THEN analyze the effect before proceeding. So, one friggin' weekend is sufficient to make a decision???
So that's freed up 7-8 saturdays next year. Absolute joke of a format, knew this would be the case with the American owners.
Load of garbage
With their stupid rules and now this decision it sees me just about out of F1 as a fan.
Has anybody even considered that their stupid rule about penalties for going over their allocated number of engines is going to impact the title race this year when Red Bull impacted ny that from the Mercedes drivers knocking them out of races when the rule could quite easily be an exception in that situation where it was not Red Bull's fault.
This reminds me of the introduction of one day limited overs cricket. Not a motor racing format that is endeared by those of us who are motor racing purists!
This new format smells very strongly of American speedway racing. Mind you, I also enjoy watching speedway racing, however, I believe there needs to be a line drawn between the two vastly different disciplines. There are only two drivers I can think of who achieved success in both speedway and F1 ~ Jack Brabham and Mario Andretti. Great drivers from a bygone era.
I guess we must expect that with American ownership we will continue to roll on with the Americanisation of F1. Maybe their next step will be to have F1 races on oval speedway tracks. Sad day for F1!
This sprint race idea is a load of crap and a waste of time and money!!
& as a sideline can anyone tell me why only the top 3 get points after all every team is putting their budget into it so why no reward?
The sprint race is killing off interest in F1.there is a smell of glazers about it
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