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F1 managing director Ross Brawn has once again called for more sprint races on future calendars following positive fan reception to the Imola GP Sprint last weekend.
Brawn wants six Sprint races per season from 2023 onwards, as he believes their ability to deliver “action” cannot be ignored.
Speaking to Motorsportweek following the Imola GP, he said:
“We’re very pleased with the sprint race. Great entertainment, lots of racing going on, plenty of overtaking, we demonstrated the cars could follows. We’d like to have six next year. We want to discuss it [with the team]. I think they can see the success.”
Sprint races were introduced for the first time last season to mixed reception. The shorter races often produced non-strop action, but many felt it was nothing more than the first stint of a regular Grand Prix.
Meanwhile, teams were concerned about Sprint races proving too costly for them due to potential damage incurred from crashes. As the shorter format rewards aggressive and all-out driving, drivers tended to take more risks, leading to some heavy shunts.
With the cost cap already limiting their spending for a year, teams were reluctant to have more Sprint races.
New generation F1 cars better suited to Sprint: Brawn
Brawn believes the new generation of F1 cars are well-suited to the Sprint format, even if they needed some DRS assistance at the Imola GP Sprint.
Speaking to Motorsportweek, he said:
“We didn’t quite know where we were last year with the old cars but I think they can see the way this is feeding into the new cars. I’m optimistic they’ll all see the value in it. Even the fans.”
“I know you may say ‘well it was DRS’ but you can’t use DRS unless you can get on the back of the car, so I think overall it was very successful.”
Previous generation F1 cars were generally ill-suited for the Sprint race. Their over-reliance on over-body downforce meant that they created vast quantities of dirty air or turbulent wake, which made a following car lose crucial downforce.
This meant that following a car close through tight corners to set up an overtake was incredibly difficult. Even with the assistance of DRS, it was a hard feat to achieve without overheating the tires.
