F1 must not be afraid to ditch sprint plan if it fails - Steiner

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has said Formula 1 must not be afraid to pull the plug on sprint races if the format does not work.

A vote is due to be taken next week on whether sprint races will be trialled at three races this year - the British, Italian and Brazilian GPs. GPFans Global understands the plan will be approved.

If the sprint races prove successful both from a sporting and technical perspective, it is likely a new weekend format will be adopted from next season.

At present, the planned shuffle will see the current qualifying session replace practice two on Friday, with the sprint race on Saturday and its outcome determining the grid for the grand prix on Sunday. Steiner is in favour of trialling the system.

“My opinion is we always need to try new things," said Steiner. "A lot of work has gone into it to make it as good as we think it can be at the moment.

"But I think sometimes the easiest way to learn something is by doing it, so we do it for three races, see what the outcome is. If people like it, if the fans like it, then we go from there.

“What I always say is we just don’t have to be afraid, if it doesn’t work, to say we are not going to do it any more next year."

With this season seen as a transitional year ahead of the introduction of major new aerodynamic regulations for next term, Steiner believes the campaign ahead offers the perfect opportunity for F1 to stage a trial.

“For me, this is a good season to try it, see what happens, how the fans react, how it works operationally, which shouldn’t be a problem," added Steiner.

"But for me, it is more what feedback FOM finds out, if it is something we want to push to have more races like this, or more sprint qualifyings and then decide if we want to go forward or not.”

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