F1, the FIA and all ten teams are to discuss sprint races this week in order that a successful vote can go before the World Motor Sport Council when it next meets in July.

Previously, while most teams were in favour of the concept, there was concern over financial compensation in terms of wear and tear - and, God forbid, Russell/Bottas style close encounters – in addition to fears over the possible 'dilution' of the worth of the main event, the race on Sunday.

With the latter factor in mind it is understood that the races will not be known as sprint races, but rather sprint qualifying.

According to Speedcafe.com, tomorrow's meeting will consist of representatives from F1 and the FIA together with the Sporting Advisory Committee, which essentially comprises the sporting directors from the ten teams.

If agreed, the proposal will be passed to the F1 Commission and then on to the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC), which must vote on the concept before it can be included in the regulations.

With the WMSC due to meet on 9 July - just one week before the British Grand Prix at which the sprint qualifying concept is to make its debut - time is of the essence.

Speaking at the weekend, McLaren boss, Andreas Seidl was confident that the proposal will finally get the green light, with the team's financial fears having been allayed.

"We have to wait now for the final announcement of Formula One, but we're happy with the outcome," said the German.

"I think Stefano (Domenicali) tried to find a compromise which works for everyone and with what we have seen now at the end we are very happy with and expect that Formula 1 will do an announcement here soon," he added.

"We're looking forward to try this this year to see if that's actually something which can be established as standard going forward for some races each season."

If the green light is given, Sprint Qualifying would make its debut, as previously mentioned, at Silverstone, with further outing at Monza and Interlagos.

Though still to be confirmed, the proposal is that Friday's second practice session would become qualifying for the sprint race, which would run for about 100kms. The finishing order of the sprint race would then decide the grid for Sunday's Grand Prix.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 21/04/2021 14:17

"@pd....Given what i think are the broad parameters for the sprint race, take a look at Silverstone as an example. I heard that the race would be over a 100kms distance. That equates to 17 laps of Silverstone. If the average per lap is approx 1'30 secs that means the sprint would last for 25 mins. That would be an all out ding dong I believe. What that means is that we'd see 25mins of semi quali speeds as there is no luxury of long term strategies. I don't know what the tyre regs are and that may be exciting as well. It could well be lotsa drama but I doubt whether it will be boring....then again I could be just so wrong."

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2. Posted by a fan !?, 21/04/2021 13:03

"All I can see is that the 'feature' race will be even more processional (read dull) than it is now.
At present qualifying includes an element that would / could lead to a driver being out of position should they fail to get the most out of the single lap.
The qualifying race will simply allow the 'normal order' to be restored prior to the feature race. Barring incident of course."

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3. Posted by Max Noble, 21/04/2021 11:00

"After the roaring success of the Soccer "Super League" this week I can only suggest that F1 takes every money grabbing opportunity they can as the fans clearly love it... "

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4. Posted by kenji, 21/04/2021 5:25

"@ Tokyo Aussie...why are you assuming that there will be sprint processions? Given the tyre allocations we may just see some 'off the wall' gambles being taken to try and upset the status quo. I'm looking forward to seeing the outcomes before making any decisions one way or another."

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5. Posted by TokyoAussie, 21/04/2021 4:32

"Sprint processions. Finding it difficult to garner much enthusiasm about this idea."

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6. Posted by kenji, 20/04/2021 23:54

"It was my basic understanding that there was tacit approval of the proposed monetary considerations already agreed, in principle, and that the formalities were to confirm. If so then Mercedes will be out on a limb. What we are seeing is a gradual move to some form of competitive equality across the board made possible by way of cost cap. This is a good move as the hegemony enforced and practiced by Mercedes is starting to unravel ever so slowly. That has to be good for F1 and conversely for the supporters. Mercedes are facing real live competition for the first time for many many years and Mercedes are not handling it at all well considering where they been for far too long. This season we will see, hopefully, the strangle hold of the past ....broken and we'll get to see some genuine competition for a change. There is one caveat though...that Wolff cannot exert any pressure on 'other' teams give them unfair advantages as we saw that he expected in Imola via the Russell incident!!!"

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7. Posted by Superbird70, 20/04/2021 18:30

"Going to go out on llimb here and say that Mercedes will not be in favour of this. They are suddenlý aware of what the monetary cost might be. Unless some sort of staged rally type start is set up so that their cars don't get scratched I would count them out."

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Teams to discuss sprint races again this week

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