F1 teams urged to see "value" of six-sprint season as vote looms

Ian Parkes
Tuesday 26 April 2022 13:10

Ross Brawn has called on the F1 teams to vote in favour of extending the number of sprint races in 2023 to six from its current three.

F1's managing director motorsports was delighted with Saturday's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix sprint event that produced exciting racing in the top 10, albeit for those in the second half of the field it was misery as were bogged down in a DRS train.

Mercedes' George Russell had described the race as "processional" given he was part of that train, only for Brawn to claim F1 would not be listening to the back-of-the-grid opinions.

F1, however, is determined to get six sprints on the calendar, as was the initial plan for this year but was knocked back by the teams given the additional burden of the new aerodynamic regulations this season and the work involved with the cars.

With sprint races on the agenda at an F1 Commission meeting in London on Tuesday, Brawn said: "We want to discuss increasing it to six, so we would like to have six races next year.

"I think they [the teams] can see the success. We didn't know quite where we were last year with the old cars.

"I think they can see the way this year is feeding into the new cars and the philosophy of the new cars. I am optimistic they will all see the value in it and what we are giving the fans.

"What we should remember about the sprint is it gives you a great Friday as well. You have qualifying on Friday, we have three days of action for the fans and we cannot ignore that."

F1 teams to be compensated for added sprints

Brawn has insisted that despite the claims from the teams last year about the added costs of sprint racing, they are compensated and will be done so accordingly should there be six next season.

"Each sprint has an allowance," explained Brawn. "At the moment it is three times the allowance, next year it would be six times the allowance.

"So there is an allowance in the budget cap for the sprint and that will be multiplied by the number of events we have."

GPFans Stewards' Room Podcast

Max Verstappen closed the championship margin to Charles Leclerc to just 27 points after completing a stunning grand slam victory at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

GPFans editor-in-chief Ian Parkes, deputy editor Sam Hall and F1 correspondent Ewan Gale join Oliver Wilson for this week's roundtable.

Verstappen secured his grand slam triumph after taking pole, sprint win, the fastest lap and leading across the line on all 63 tours of Imola in the grand prix.

With Ferrari toiling, the championship gap has shrunk significantly as Red Bull closed to 11 points of the Scuderia.

But at Mercedes, the picture was again bleak for Lewis Hamilton, even if George Russell's fantastic drive to fourth did at least put some gloss on the weekend. This and more on the Stewards' Room Podcast.

Listen to the GPFans Global team as they digest all the action from Imola, let us know your thoughts in the comments section below, and don't forget to subscribe for more regular podcasts.