Sprint races: Three events and big points

We know that it is a money problem which had until now prevented the teams from reaching an agreement with the FOM on the number of Sprint rounds to be contested in 2022. A last chance meeting is taking place this Monday to try to find a compromise as we explained in our columns last week. “We ultimately don’t know what the final figure will be, Zak Brown explained during the launch of the new McLaren MCL36. As has been reported and discussed, it will probably be more in the range of three than six. »

The American manager took the opportunity to return to the reasons for the standoff between certain teams and the owner of the commercial rights of the F1. “They offered to do more races and unfortunately some teams need to break their bad habit of looking for every opportunity to spend more money. However, according to the data provided to us by the FOM at the end of last year, the Sprint races increased the number of viewers and can therefore be considered a success! »

Finally, at the end of the meeting, the F1 Commission unanimously validated the holding of three events. The Sprint races will take place in Imola (Italy), Spielberg (Austria) and Interlagos (Brazil). To understand the sticking point, F1 wanted there to be six, without increasing the budget cap. The leading teams were against it. Nobody wanted to give in and the decision taken sounds like a compromise, with fewer Sprint races but an unchanged budget.

A new points scale

On the other hand, there is a big new thing that no one saw coming: the allocation of points. 3, 2 and 1 points were awarded in 2021, respectively to the winner, 2nd and 3rd. In 2022, no less than 8 points will be awarded to the winner of this short race. Then 7, 6 and so on from 2nd to 8th, which will receive a point. The sporting challenge will be real and will no longer be limited only to governing the starting order for the Sunday race.

Furthermore, they should no longer be called “qualifying sprint races”. From now on it will simply be “Sprint Course”. The reason ? They will no longer be qualifying since it will be the winner of the traditional Friday qualifying session who will officially be the pole sitter of the Grand Prix. But it is the winner of the Sprint race who will be in leading position on the Grand Prix grid on Sunday. From this point of view, it is the end of an aberration, and the fastest driver over a lap will see his statistic duly credited with pole position.

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