The number of sprint stages will be expanded to six next year and this was officially announced today. However, discussions on a number of issues, including the desirability of a reverse starting order during Saturday’s short races, are still ongoing.
“We must continually evolve and adapt and ensure that everything we do is in the best interests of our sport,” said FIA President Mohammed bin Sulayem. “That is why we are trying to determine the direction for the further development of such a format as the sprint, together with FOM and the champion teams.”
Changes such as the transfer of qualifications that determine the starting order in the sprint (Sprint Shootout) from Saturday to Friday have not yet been formally approved, although this idea is already supported by all teams. But it still needs to be approved by the Formula 1 committee, which meets in January. At the same time, additional innovations are possible, including a partially reversed starting order.
Discussions on this topic continue, as there are legitimate concerns that teams with this starting order could cheat by not performing well in pre-sprint qualifying or using other techniques to gain a good starting position.
One of the proposals being discussed concerns revising the points distribution system, which could be awarded on Saturday not only based on the results of the sprint, but also on the results of Friday’s Shootout. Then the teams and drivers have a real incentive, and if someone is unlucky in this qualifying, then in theory there is still a chance to make up for it in the sprint.
Or, for example, a team like Haas, whose car showed good results in qualifying last season but was not very fast in the race, will at least have the opportunity to fight for points on Friday.
It is not certain that such radical changes will be approved, but there is an alternative scenario in which the format remains largely the same (with the exception of moving sprint qualifying to Friday), but teams are allowed to change the car settings to a certain level. degree before Saturday’s main qualifying and Sunday’s Grand Prix.
Stages, the program of which includes a sprint, are planned for 2024 in China, Miami, Austria, Austin, Brazil and Qatar.
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.
