The leaders of Formula 1 aim to organize six Sprint Qualifying events this year, following the success of the experiments at Silverstone, Monza and Interlagos in the previous championship.
However, the green light has not yet arrived, as the teams have not managed to agree with the commercial rights holder of Formula 1 regarding the financing package for these six races.
It is understood that the teams were paid an extra $ 100,000 for each sprint race run in 2021. In addition, $ 450,000 was added to the budget cap, as well as an extra margin of 100,000 for damage to the cars in the event of an big crash.
For this year it seems that Formula 1 does not want to offer any compensation for accidents. Instead, the initial offer was a direct payment of $ 500,000 per team for the first five events, plus an extra $ 150,000 for each additional event. This effectively means an extra $ 2.65 million for each team for the six races in 2022.
It is understood that this offer has not been welcomed by the top teams, who are on the limit with the budget cap and are worried that it is not enough. They fear that adding extra sprint race costs could force them to compromise the development of their cars in the event of an accident.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection from Puma!
According to Zak Brown, the chief executive officer of McLaren Racing, an undisclosed team would like the budget cap increased by $ 5 million instead of $ 2.65 that was offered. However, smaller teams believe this margin is simply a cover that would allow larger teams to spend more to make their cars more competitive rather than actually being necessary for sprint races.
The continued failure of being able to find a common point is a problem for Formula 1, because within weeks of the first race of the season this economic dispute threatens to completely blow up the plans for sprint races. According to the current governance structure of Formula 1, in order to be able to change the rules of the current season, you need a “super majority” of 28 votes out of the 30 representatives of the F1 Commission.
While the 10 votes each from F1 and the FIA are guaranteed, getting the support of eight teams could be a problem, as Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari are the ones most concerned by this point of view and could force the hand of the customer teams to support their position. McLaren are among the teams who are satisfied with the financial package offered.
One other approach would be to abandon plans for sprint race events in 2022 and focus on getting approval for 2023, when support from only six teams would be enough, given the fact that for future rule changes a majority would suffice.
Leave a Reply