Haas chief feels F1 Sprint races are ‘not a lot more work’

Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner has spoken in favor of Sprint races in the sport, admitting they are 'not a lot of work'. The Italian feels F1 should consider having more Sprints as opposed to more full-length Grands Prix in the future.

The sport introduced the format of Sprint races in 2021, with three 100km dashes to the finish line last season. They followed that up with another three planned for this year. The final Sprint of the current season will be held at Interlagos.

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has already confirmed plans to increase the Sprint tally to six in the upcoming 2023 season. It is also slated to be the longest campaign yet in F1's history with 24 Grands Prix on the calendar as of now.

Despite what is already a congested schedule, Haas boss Steiner feels there is room to squeeze in more action for fans and stakeholders with Sprint races

Speaking in the lead-up to the 2022 F1 Japanese GP, the 57-year-old said:

“I think Stefano [Domenicali] said it, the limit is 24. Again, it is 24 plus six sprint races. The sprint races, for us, are not more work. You get more out of the race weekend for the spectators because you have more races on a weekend, it is a good thing.”

Steiner thinks that Sprint races are the next logical step in F1's evolution, adding:

“The next step is not that we have more races, but we have more sprint races. This is what we should be doing, because we are there anyway, and we give additional value without extending what we are doing.”

The Haas boss has also given his suggestions to restructure race weekends to try and accommodate Sprint races more easily. He said:

“The sprint races are more work, but they are not a lot more work. Maybe then we can do something… have qualifying on a Saturday morning instead of having the practice, have qualifying there for the Sunday race. Then again there, you have something more exciting for Saturday instead of more races.”

F1's Sprint races have caught on with the world. MotoGP, the premier biking series, plans to have Sprint-style races at all their events in 2023.

---

Pietro Fittipaldi confirmed for free-practice appearances with Haas at 2022 F1 Mexico GP and Abu Dhabi GP

Haas F1 has confirmed that reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi will drive for the team in free practice during the race weekends in Mexico and Abu Dhabi.

As per a rule introduced by F1 in 2022, every team has to facilitate a free-practice run for a driver with two or fewer starts in the series.

Pietro, the grandson of two-time F1 world champion and Indy 500 champion Emerson Fittipaldi, has made two GP entries in his career thus far. Both came when he filled in for former Haas driver Romain Grosjean after the latter's fire-ball crash in Bahrain in 2020.

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner spoke about the decision during a conversation with Motorsport, where he said:

“I’m very happy we’re able to give Pietro [Fittipaldi] another couple of stints behind the wheel of the VF-22 in Mexico and Abu Dhabi as part of our mandated rookie running this season. He obviously still qualifies having only competed in two Grands Prix for us back in 2020. Pietro, as always, did a great job for us earlier in pre-season testing when he got to drive the VF-22 for the first time in Bahrain.”

Fittipaldi was also in the running to take over from Nikita Mazepin after the Russian's abrupt departure at the start of 2022 before the American team reached an agreement with Kevin Magnussen.