Formula 1 teams have agreed to double the number of sprint races on next year’s calendar.
However the FIA has said it is still considering the implications of a proposal to increase the number of sprint races from three to six.The plan to extend the trial of the sprint format, which was used at three rounds last year and will take place three more times this year, was discussed at a meeting of the F1 Commission in London today.
In a statement the FIA said: “Formula 1 and the teams were supportive of an extension to six sprint events for the 2023 season, running with the same format as in 2022.
“While supporting the principle of an increased number of sprint events, the FIA is still evaluating the impact of this proposal on its trackside operations and personnel, and will provide its feedback to the Commission.”
The sprint format was trialled at three rounds last year. F1 hoped to expand it to six events this year, but the proposal was blocked by some teams on cost grounds. The first of three sprints on the 2022 schedule was held last weekend at Imola.
F1’s next revision of its power unit regulations, due for introduction in 2026, was also discussed. Among the talking points was the knock-on effect of a potential reduction in power, which could be offset by ensuring the chassis regulations lead to a reduction in drag.
The FIA set six preliminary targets for the new rules, including significantly reducing drag, further improving how closely cars can follow each other, reducing the physical dimensions of the cars, cutting or maintaining current weight levels, increasing the use of standardised and sustainable components and further improving car safety.
Two other changes were confirmed. Following the recent introduction of a new specification of helmet cameras, these will become mandatory from 2023.
A trial reduction in drivers’ tyre allocations will also take place. Drivers will receive 11 sets of tyres per weekend instead of 13, “to evaluate the impact of the reduction in tyre allocation on track-running, with the overall intention to move to more sustainable use of tyres in the future”, the FIA said.
The commission is also understood to have discussed the impact rising inflation is having upon F1 teams. The financial working group will produce proposals on how to alleviate the pressure this has created as teams are bound to a budget cap of $140 million (£111m) each, with exceptions, this year.
No decision has yet been communicated on how F1 intends to address the loss of the Russian Grand Prix, which was scheduled to take place on September 25th, but was cancelled after the country invaded Ukraine in February.
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Jere (@jerejj)
26th April 2022, 19:04
I didn’t know people dislike drag this much, even though drag itself isn’t necessarily a hugely bad thing.
However, I don’t quite get the power reduction part since the cylinder number should remain unchanged.
MGU-H will get removed, but more MGU-K/ERS power, so I find this slightly surprising unless the new engine concept will be smaller, although 100& sustainable fuel could also affect bhp level.
Minimum car+driver weight most certainly needs addressing & reducing physical dimensions is one way of lowering the figure. So is engine size, PU component amount, smaller (5-speed transmission from what I saw once) gearbox, & synthetic fuel that should more easily allow for a downsized tank capacity & as little as 75 kg for race maximum allowance based on Symonds’ words.
The 11tyre sets trial is a good move, while the budget cap should remain at its current base level & shift to 135m from next year as planned. Otherwise, the cap’s intention would get contradicted.
If teams have to compromise car development to stay within the cap, so be that.
About two months since the Russian GP cancellation & still no replacement, although the most recent info implies an additional Singapore race which seems the only plausible option.
JohnH (@johnrkh)
26th April 2022, 21:50
@jerejj
Maybe they’re looking at moving to a 4 cylinder that would make sense for the manufacturers except for maybe Ferrari.
I don’t think that will happen also why do they bother with the facade of calling the sprint races a trial.
Jere (@jerejj)
27th April 2022, 9:12
@johnrkh Maybe, although the most recent info is about continuing with a V6 concept. Things can change, however.
So you don’t think the planned base limit change will happen? Well, I differ.
anon
26th April 2022, 22:44
@jerejj do we really need to have to add an extra race to begin with?
It’s been made clear that continuing to expand an already pretty bloated calendar is reaching the limits of what is considered sustainable – particularly with the FIA now making the point that the sprint races is already having a negative impact on its personnel, not just the teams – and it’s not great for the logistical chain that the sport is using either.
We know that there were at least two instances last year where the logistics train for the sport almost collapsed – Brazil and Qatar – and there are suggestions that a third instance of logistical issues (in Mexico) went unreported too. Despite the surface level appearance, there are suggestions that the sport’s logistical operations are even more stretched this year due to a global shortage of cargo planes, to the point where there are concerns that we might see a team, or multiple teams, being badly hit or perhaps even having to withdraw from a race because their cars and equipment have not been delivered.
Jere (@jerejj)
27th April 2022, 8:00
@anon Not necessarily, although this would mean two consecutive non-race weekends in September, which wouldn’t be the world’s end.
The logistical aspect you brought up is spot-on. I couldn’t agree more with you.
Yaru (@yaru)
26th April 2022, 19:10
I believe this is an error. It should be “used at three rounds last year”.
We have had only one sprint this year and only two more to go.
Sham (@sham)
26th April 2022, 20:12
Disappointing. Is it too naive to still hope that they see sense?
f1alex (@f1alex)
26th April 2022, 20:31
Please don’t.
Mack41 (@mack41)
26th April 2022, 21:33
The sprint needs to be less of a race and more of a qualifying. I feel like the issue with the current sprint is that it’s basically just the race with a red flag. Make it an eliminator style race with the bottom 5 being dropped every 5 laps and a safety car bunching the grid back up each time with a rolling restart. This would increase the action in the sprint (since it gets boring with the current length and lack of pit strategy), would encourage drivers to keep fighting the entire time, and wouldn’t feel like a race happening in 2 parts since race day would be the full grid in the positions they fought for in the sprint. It’s currently a gimmick pretending to be a race. if they’re going to do it they should embrace the gimmick factor.
Zink
26th April 2022, 21:48
@KeithCollantine
I spotted an error the text says “Drivers will receive 11 sets of tyres per weekend instead of 11”, one of the numbers must be wrong ;)
Jere (@jerejj)
27th April 2022, 8:02
@Zink The latter, of course.
PMccarthy_is_a_legend (@pmccarthy_is_a_legend)
26th April 2022, 21:56
Yes great news. 6 sounds like the right number for a season, I love sprint races, they bring something different to the weekend! Bring it on!
Nick T.
27th April 2022, 3:46
Agreed, you’re straight into interesting stuff on Friday rather than them getting enough practice so that the grid becomes like Noah’s Ark. This lets drivers highlight their natural talent and adaptability more and also leads to more driver errors, which further separates the wheat from the chaff. Besides historical purity, which is laughable for anyone who knows how many formats F1 has played with in the past, I really don’t get all the groaning. AT WORST, it ends up not changing the grid much. AT BEST, you get a more racing and more mixed up grid.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
27th April 2022, 8:42
This is not true though if Imola is an example. The grid was more mixed up after proper qualifying than it was after the sprint race. The sprint just enabled the quicker cars which were out of place, to move forwards.
IfImnotverymuchmistaken
27th April 2022, 9:09
I’d say it’s just the opposite. If by chance we get an unexpected quali result, the sprint race will see the cars line up in their organic order, making a potentially interestingly mixed grid into a procession where the faster cars are already in front.
S
27th April 2022, 10:22
You had a race start with a mixed up grid. It just happened on Saturday instead of Sunday.
If it had happened on Sunday (which it wouldn’t have in this case, as qualifying would have been in Saturday’s dry weather without the sprint) then most competitors would make less effort to move forward early on, and would settle into their long-game strategy right from the beginning.
bull mello (@bullmello)
26th April 2022, 22:22
This is too bad. Three is too many. Six is leaning towards all sprints all season long. Maybe within a couple of years, it probably will happen. Quite sad.
Practices, qualifying, full race. Makes sense.
Practice, qualifying, sprint, (useless) practice, partial race. Lacks sense.
Antz (@antznz)
26th April 2022, 22:52
On the epic of helmet cams, how long till they add 2, one on each side and combine the images to give a true drivers eye view!? Someone do it please?
ryanoceros (@ryanoceros)
26th April 2022, 23:18
The expansion of the calendar alone puts a huge strain on not only the teams but also the most dedicated audience who won’t miss a race. Adding sprint races to the mix makes it even worse and now six?? Not many people are going to be able to watch qualifying on Friday so automatically the interest and suspense of the race weekend is compromised. Liberty Media is asking too much of fans to follow these additional races and at the same time make three and later six races extremely difficult to follow. They will trade some long-time fans for some new superficial fans who might watch Miami and Monaco for example but can’t be expected to stick around in the long term.
With Liberty media’s lack of respect for F1’s essence, expect not only fan boost to come to F1 but a monetized fan boost payable only through non-sustainable cryptocurrencies.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
27th April 2022, 1:37
It’s certainly having an impact on the ability to watch as well as the flow of a weekend.
For me Friday qualifying is a no go because it’s on so late where I live so I’d miss that bit. I’m boycotting each weekend that has a sprint as protest but I doubt that my individual protest will have any effect unless a few million do the same.
I get the feeling that F1 has the opinion that fans don’t want to watch things live but prefer highlights packages at a time to suit themselves so don’t care any more about scheduling, just producing as much content at possible regardless of quality to capture a bunch of casual viewers.
F1 is changing, that’s fine, they can do what they want. If it succeeds for them, great, I’ll just find another interest.
S
27th April 2022, 3:12
I think the fact that qualifying is scheduled so late of a Friday shows otherwise. They are aiming at the European prime time, and trying to get a bit more of the morning American market.
Being an Aussie who watches F1 requires late nights. Choices are either get used to it or record it and watch it later.
Or don’t watch it at all.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
27th April 2022, 10:53
Precisely.
I choose to not watch it. I watch sport live or not at all – simple as that.
I’d argue that I’ve seen a lot of comments from European based contributors saying the later time is of no benefit to them either and that they too have to record it or miss it whereas they would watch “normal” qualifying live.
I suspect that you’re an anonymous Liberty shill given how slavishly you agree with everything they do.
Just to be clear, I have no problem with change as long as change is brought about in a planned organised way (like the new regs and budget caps) – the sprint “experiment” really needs to be rearranged so that there’s a decent flow to a weekend rather than being jammed into a slot in the hope it’ll “work”
S
27th April 2022, 11:20
Ah well, your loss.
Now THAT is funny. I think you need to read some more of my comments – especially about the technical regs, which are Liberty’s golden centrepiece.
I applaud their attempts to evolve and update F1, and stay somewhat relevant and interesting to the largest number/widest variety of viewers possible, but I can assure I don’t agree with much that they are doing.
Yep. I agree with that. I’ve said before that the sprints could certainly benefit with some tweaks.
However, unlike many people here, I don’t think sprints ‘fit’ better into the weekend by making them less important. They need to have a significant impact on the championship, or teams will take fewer risks in them.
And if teams aren’t taking them as seriously as the rest of the championship, they really would be useless.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
27th April 2022, 8:43
+ 1
slowmo (@slowmo)
26th April 2022, 23:52
Well if we’re gonna gimmick the hell out of the sport I vote for banning tyre warming and a formation lap into rolling start for sprints.
S
27th April 2022, 3:15
You don’t think that tyres warmers are the gimmick, @slowmo?
And rolling starts certainly aren’t a gimmick. They are just a wasted opportunity for an interesting challenge of driver skill and racecraft.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
27th April 2022, 0:11
So less tyres available for the weekend = less running in practice = “oh look, practice is boring, we should have more sprint races”
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
27th April 2022, 3:18
It’s a dead duck
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
27th April 2022, 6:13
Doesn’t make any sense. How could they make the car smaller dan lighter when they increased battery? And what they mean with 100% sustainable fuel? Are they going to use full synthetic ethanol from inefficient process?
Jere (@jerejj)
27th April 2022, 8:13
@ruliemaulana Standard parts don’t have to be heavier.
Lowering the car+driver weight is possible even with improved safety & increased battery power (lighter batteries should be achievable with matured hybrid technology anyway).
Reduced PU component amount, smaller 5-speed transmission gearbox, more easily downsizable tank capacity via fully synthetic fuel, & reduced physical car dimensions would allow for a lower figure without taking away anything from safety structures or increasing costs for teams, so not really contradictory.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
27th April 2022, 9:25
Disappointing about the sprint races. It’s pretty clear that many of the drivers don’t think they add much. I’m inclined to agree with them. They’re not awful though. I guess the teams just see them as an extra source of revenue.
Interesting about the objectives for the new rules. Smaller and hopefully lighter cars has got to be a good aim. These cars are heavy and look cumbersome in some places. I suspect they will find this difficult though by the time we get there.
Qeki (@qeki)
28th April 2022, 6:32
The world is changing and I’m not sure how I feel about it.