Domenicali: 'No sprint race every weekend, but only on historic circuits'
- GPblog.com
The first sprint race in Formula 1 took place a few weeks ago during the Grand Prix of Great Britain. The opinions are divided about the new format. CEO Stefano Domenicali now tells more about the future plans.
From 2022 onwards, Formula 1 wants to focus sprint race events on 'historic races' only. Domenicali also gave the first official confirmation that the third and final sprint race of this season will take place at Interlagos. The second test is scheduled for Monza.
"We have said that we wanted to do three tests, one has been done in Silverstone, another one will be in Monza. And the other one will be at the end of the season in Brazil. At the end of this complete test, we're going to have a plan to see what will be the next step. What I can already say is that after the first sprint event in Silverstone, the response that we have, from the drivers, from the teams, the media, has been really positive", Domenicali told Motorsport.com.
"So the outcome of the first event has been dramatically positive, if I may say, and it's great because that's brought attention, interest to TV, and also partners, because thanks to that we have brought in, for example, Crypto.com. And so we have already seen our financial influence being positive."
Only sprint races during historic races
Domenicali made it clear that there are no plans to introduce sprint racing during every race weekend, as some circuits are not suitable for it. "We're going to have a full debriefing, if I may say, at the end of the season", he said.
"We have a plan for the future, of course, we are developing that, we are fine-tuning [after] some of the comments that we received. And what I can say is that if we move as we should in that direction in the future, it will be not every race. We have ideas to create a special format for certain historical Grand Prix's, and certain special awards that we want to offer, and add to the already incredible platform of F1", Domenicali said.