03/02/2022
NEWS STORY
Plans to hold as many as 6 Sprint races this season are in disarray after teams fail to agree on compensation.
F1's grand plans to hold Sprints at a third of this year's races are in turmoil after the teams failed to reach an agreement on the amount of compensation to be paid in lieu of potential crash damage.
Last month, McLaren boss, Zak Brown revealed that a number of teams - believed to include Mercedes and Red Bull - were demanding as much as $5m in compensation should their cars be damaged during the Sprint events.
In 2021, the teams were given an allowance of $450,000 each for participating in the three Sprints, and an additional $100,000 to cover potential accident damage, and while most were happy to continue with this arrangement, a couple said they weren't and the American believes that this was a means of exceeding track limits as far as the budget cap is concerned.
"Some want to take the opportunity to raise the cost cap, a few of the teams," he said. "We're adamantly opposed to raising the cost cap on anything. So we're going to need to work through that issue.
"The reality is there was very little damage last year," he added. "When this was proposed to us a year ago, they did a report on the damage that was incurred on the opening laps, and it was also in the report that showed there was very little damage. We came into this thinking there could be very little damage, and it turns out there was very little damage. And yet a couple of the teams still want to take the opportunity to raise the budget by a ridiculous number, by almost, ‘well, what if I write off a car every race?'
"From what I've seen, I saw more crashes in practice than I have in the sprint races," he added. "It might be new to some teams to actually have to manage a budget, but I think that's in the spirit of the sport, so you can certainly match the revenue to the expense and resolve that. We need to be very careful to be fiscally sustainable, that certain teams take the opportunity to try and raise that all the time. We need to resist that."
It's understood that three teams have stuck to their guns demanding an increase to the budget cap to incorporate potential crash damage and as a result, in a compromise F1's plans for six Sprints have been abandoned in favour of three.
There was talk of a Sprint over the season opening weekend, indeed it was to be held on Bahrain's outer 'oval' circuit, while other potential venues for the format included Imola, Montreal, Zandvoort, the Red Bull Ring and Interlagos, which along with Silverstone and Monza hosted Sprints last season.
Assuming the (three) Sprints do go ahead, and that is in no way a done deal for Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari may yet reject F1's compromise, it is understood there will be changes to the format including the points allocation. However, if the deal is rejected there will be no Sprints.