Formula 1 will make another attempt to increase the number of sprint races to six next year, after its efforts to do so for 2022 were thwarted.
Several teams blocked F1’s planned expansion of the sprint race trial from three races to six this year on cost grounds. However speaking after yesterday’s sprint race, the first of 2022, F1 motorsport director Ross Brawn said he intends to push for even more next year.
“On Tuesday we want to discuss increasing it to six,” he said.
He believes team principals “can see the success” of the format following its introduction in 2021. “I think we didn’t know quite where we were last year with the old cars. But I think they can see the way this is feeding into the new cars and the philosophy of the new cars.
“I’m optimistic they’ll all see the value in it and what we’ve given the fans. I think the thing you should always remember about the sprint is it gives you a great Friday as well. If we have qualifying on a Friday we have three days of action for the fans and you can’t ignore that.”
Gallery: 2022 Emilia-Romagna sprint race in picturesBrawn hopes to rubber-stamp an increase in the number of sprint races swiftly using a simple majority of F1 Commission members (25 out of 30 votes) instead of a super-majority (28 votes) which would make it easier for teams to block the move.
“What I’d like to do is at least get six races settled and then after these three races we can see if there’s some format developments we want to do,” said Brawn. “But I’d like to just move on to six races, get that bedded in and settled, and then if there’s any format changes that we feel are worthwhile then we can consider those.
“The six races needs to pass on a simple majority, any format changes in the future will have to pass on a super-majority, so eight teams have to agree [in addition to 20 FIA and FOM representatives]. So I think the important thing is to get the simple thing done first. Then there may be…