One of the heads of current F1, Ross Brawn , wanted to hold six sprint races this 2022 season, but after a discussion with the teams about the cost of possible damage within the budget limit, it was agreed to keep three sprint races , like last year.
However, these appointments are one of the items on the agenda of Tuesday’s meeting of the Formula 1 Commission , in which an increase for next year will be discussed again.
Brawn is confident he can convince the teams to agree to the plan: “On Tuesday we want to discuss the increase to six because we would like to have six races next year. I think (teams) can see the success, and I think We didn’t quite know where we were last year with the old cars, but now you can see the way this is feeding into the new cars and the development philosophy around them.”
“So I’m optimistic, I think everyone will see the value of this and what we can give the fans,” he continued. “I think the thing to always remember about the sprints is that it gives you a great Friday too, we have qualifying on that first day and it’s three days of action for the fans so we can’t ignore that.
Brawn says the priority for next week is to agree on a number of sprints for 2023 , rather than discuss any changes to the format: “I think if we talk about changes, what I would like to do is at least have three races. After these three, we can see if there are some developments in the format, but I would like to go to six races, so that it settles.
“And then if there’s any format change that we think is worthwhile we can look into it,” Brawn said. “The six races have to be approved by majority, any changes in the future would have to be approved like that, so eight teams will have to agree.”
“So I think the important thing is to do the simplest first and then have some room in the future to evolve,” he said.
Brawn says this year’s change from awarding points to the top eight instead of the top three sprint finishers was a positive move: “That’s why we did it, to make it more valuable, to make it more attractive to other drivers. The best thing we are doing is putting it to the race test again, to see how it evolves.”
“I think we can apply it to other format changes or other developments in the sport, where we can take a small number of races, evaluate the modification and see how it works, I think that’s a great way forward.”
Brawn insisted Saturday’s test at Imola, in which Max Verstappen overtook Charles Leclerc to win in the closing laps after the Ferrari driver suffered tire degradation, was a sign of the value this format can add.
“As we all know, racing drivers have a nature, so any thought that they would take it easy was not the case. I think we were lucky, and the tires were perfect for the sprint race, because they started to degrade. “.
“Of course in a normal race the driver would have pitted, changed compounds and it all came down to strategy. But we had only one chance in the race and the drivers had to make the tires last,” he said.
“We are very happy with the sprint race, very entertaining, with many duels and overtaking,” said Brawn.
“We’ve shown that the cars can follow each other. You can tell it was DRS, but you can’t use it unless you get to the back of the other car. I can say overall it’s been a great success.”
