The motor racing authority, the FIA, announced on Monday that they would take place in Imola in Emilia-Romagna (April 24), Austria (July 10) and Brazil (November 13). The short format races will take place on Saturday, the day before the Grand Prix. There was also, last season, a first experiment with three races of this type on the program. With the sprint format, the classic qualifications are brought forward from Saturday to Friday. Their result defines the starting grid for a first sprint race of around 100 km (30 minutes) on Saturday, the classification of which in turn determines the grid for the Grand Prix (300 km) on Sunday.
In 2022, these sprints will offer more points in the championship: from 8 for the first to 1 for the 8th, while in 2021 only the first three obtained bonus points. Finally, to avoid confusion arising from this new format, the official pole position will be awarded to the fastest driver in qualifying on Friday.
In addition, following the fiasco of the Belgian Grand Prix 2021, which crowned Max Verstappen winner and awarded him half of the planned points without there being a race due to intense rain, the FIA wanted to remedy the situation.
“No points will be awarded if the leader has not completed at least two laps without the intervention of a safety car and/or a virtual safety car”, explains the body in a press release.
The FIA then establishes a progressive points system according to the distance actually covered: 6 points will be earned by the winner (then 4, 3, 2, 1 for the following ones) if the race lasts more than two laps but less than 25% of the planned distance.
Between 25% and 50%, the winner will pocket 13 points (then 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 for the following). And between 50% and 75%, it will be 19 points (then 14, 12, 9, 8, 6, 5, 3, 2, 1).