The sports manager of the Formula 1, Briton Ross Brawn has confirmed that the premier class has not abandoned its idea of introducing six Sprint races to the calendar from the 2023 season.
Initially, Formula 1 wanted to introduce six Sprint races to the calendar for the 2022 season but ultimately decided to stick to “only” three Sprint events this year (Imola, Austria and Brazil), acknowledging that number as reasonable in light pressures already put on the teams for this season with the introduction of major changes to the technical regulations. However, Formula still intends to introduce six more Sprint races next year and discussions will take place on this subject in the coming days, confirmed Ross Brawn.
“On Tuesday we will discuss increasing it to six, we would like to have six next year and I think they might be very successful. » said Ross Brawn this Saturday at Imola.
“We weren’t sure where we were last year with the old cars, but I think now we can see how that carries over to the new single-seaters. I’m pretty optimistic, I think we’ll all see the true value of it, even the fans. What we have to remember regarding Sprint races is that it gives us a great Friday. We have three days of fan action and we can’t ignore that. »
Concerning the Sprint race contested this Saturday at Imola and which was won by Max Verstappen, Brawn considers that this first Sprint of the year was a real success: “ We are very happy with the Sprint race. It was great fun, we had a lot of overtaking and we might see that the cars can follow each other. »
“I know you can always tell it’s because of DRS, but you can only use DRS when you’re in the back of another car, so I think in the together it was very successful. »
