It’s looking likely that the idea of Saturday Sprint Races will become a reality during the 2021 season.
Formula One bosses have been considering this for some time, and it seems as though plans are finally coming to fruition.
There have been many reports suggesting that trial sprint races could be implemented at three Grand Prix weekends this year to shake up the schedule.
Should these plans go ahead, qualifying would take place a day earlier, replacing Practice Two on Friday, and that would set the grid for Saturday’s sprint race.
As well as offering reduced championship points for the top eight finishers, the outcome of that shorter race would determine the starting grid for the usual Sunday Grand Prix.
Ross Brawn, F1’s managing director of motorsport, spoke to Sky Sports F1 earlier this afternoon offering an update around ongoing talks.
He said; “The critical thing is to preserve the Grand Prix.
“We want the winner of the Grand Prix to come away from those weekends still being the strongest and most successful competitor of that weekend.
“But we want to fill out the weekend and we want to give the fans something more substantial to look at and follow on a Friday, something interesting on a Saturday.
“So as well as the sprint qualifying we are going to have the normal qualifying on a Friday when you’ll qualify for your position in the sprint qualifying, and then the sprint qualifying will take you forward to the race.
“So, really, we have a much fuller weekend and that’s what we want to explore.
“We want this opportunity to try it at three races this year. If it doesn’t work, we’ll put our hands up and go away and think about it again.
“But I’m quite optimistic about it and if you take the view of the whole weekend then it’s got a lot going for it.”
It’s understood that Silverstone could be the location of the first Sprint Race trial, and later in the season, Monza and Brazil, however, confirmation has yet to be given, but an agreement could be made as early as next week.
