07/05/2023
NEWS STORY
Though he rules out Sprints at every race weekend, F1 CEO, Stefano Domenicali admits there will be more of the 'mini races' moving forward.
Last year saw three Sprints and this year there are six, albeit with a new format that sees Saturday become a stand-alone for the controversial events.
Speaking to investors, Stefano Domenicali has admitted that the intention, moving forward, is to increase the number of Sprints.
"The result of the first one of this year has been very encouraging," he said, referring to last weekend's event in Baku. "Every one of our partners, promoters, media partners, and also the teams, were very positive about that.
"Of course, there is something that we want to take as a lesson learned to see at the end of summer if there is something that we can learn to do something better," he added. "But in general terms, the first weekend of the sprint format has been great."
Despite the Italian's insistence, not everyone is a fan of the Sprint, most notably Max Verstappen, who admits that the format could cause him to rethink his future in F1.
Fans are also divided, but emboldened by the success of Drive to Survive, Domenicali claims this is the way forward.
"When you want to do something different in a very standardised ecosystem, the reaction of the, let's say, the traditional fans is the one that needs to be awaited for longer term," he said. "But normally with the new fans, we've seen a very, very positive reaction.
"The promoters are pushing for it, but we don't want to go in a situation where in the future we're going to have all the races with the sprint format. We want to keep a limited number, maybe one-third of the calendar, and create something special with regard to the competition that we can give sporting value with trophies and, of course, commercial opportunities. That's the right way to go."
As if that wasn't enough, and possibly a warning to Red Bull in light of some of the criticism of its domination of the sport at present, he appeared to suggests more 'flexibility' in terms of the regulations.
"Another thing I think is important is that I see a big trend today in motorsport not to be stable, let's say, to not stay consistent with the regulations.
"We are just following what baseball and the NBA have done, which means all professional sports need to listen to the requests and the input that the fans, promoters, and partners are providing, to have more excitement around the game."
You have been warned.