After expressing the idea of a format with a sprint on Saturday, Liberty Media assured that they would not break the traditional Grand Prix at all, that adding a sprint would improve the entertainment and increase the audience, including young people – at the expense of those who think the two-hour race on Sunday is too long.
Then the sprint format was adjusted, more points were awarded – and already this season, in the second year of experiments, long-standing traditions will be broken if Verstappen wins the championship title ahead of schedule based on the results of the sprint. and not at the finish of the Grand Prix. For that he only needs to finish sixth on Saturday.
The chance of this is very high. This year Max won 13 Grand Prix and both sprints. By the end of the season, he only needs to earn three more points – and victory is guaranteed regardless of the results of the only remaining rival – teammate Sergio Perez, who is now almost twice as inferior: 223 points versus 400 for Max.
Last year Verstappen won the title ahead of schedule in the season-ending fifth stage – October 9 in Suzuka, this year victory could be achieved almost on the day – October 7 or 8. Fantastic stability.
This isn’t the first time Liberty Media has changed traditions. How dramatically the role of the FIA changed with their arrival. Max Mosley, as president, dictated his terms in an authoritarian manner, his replacement, Jean Todt, gradually lost the initiative, and now, under Mohammed bin Sulayem, the federation is almost completely devoid of any influence.
Whiting died, Ecclestone was fired and Stefano Domenicali, Ross Brawn and other former team employees, although experienced but controlled by Liberty, joined Formula 1’s management. As Bernie recently said: ‘In my time I decided everything myself, but I don’t know if the current leadership is independent.’
The current regulations were written by Liberty Media together with the teams, the FIA approved it alone, and when the FIA recently approved the Andretti team’s application, Formula 1’s main mouthpiece became – the official website of the championship – did not respond to this news. And Andretti’s real chances of making his Formula 1 debut in this situation can be compared to Sergio Perez’s chances of winning the title this season. They are there, but they are not there.
This year’s event in Qatar will be the first under a ten-year contract. This race was not actually supposed to take place in 2021, but Formula 1 had to close the forced break; Qatar was not among the countries closed due to Covid-19 – and the stage was included in the calendar.
Formula 1 logistics could hardly cope at the time. The Qatar Grand Prix completed a difficult run of three consecutive remote stages. There were already problems with cargo delivery between the races in Mexico City and Sao Paulo, but Qatar was much further away, meaning team employees only had time to sleep on the plane instead of days off during these three weeks.
This year the Qatar Grand Prix is sold out again – all race day tickets have been sold, although the grandstand capacity was increased by 40,000 seats before the start of the stage.
In Losail a lot is decided in qualifying. The main sessions of the weekend will coincide with sunset and will take place under artificial lighting, when the asphalt cools down a bit, but the warm weather will once again pose a serious test for the teams.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
