F1 to rely on 'historical' venues for sprint format in 2022

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali says a "special format" centered around sprint qualifying could be created for certain "historical Grands Prix" in 2022.

F1 trialed the novel Saturday afternoon short race for the first time at last month's British Grand Prix. Two more trials will take place this season, at Monza and likely in Brazil, at Interlagos.

F1 will undertake a full assessment of the innovative format after the third sprint qualifying weekend, but Domenicali said initial reactions to the concept from the F1 community have been "dramatically positive".

"First of all, when we talk about the sprint format, the idea was to offer something different in order to make sure that there was something new that we can offer to all the stakeholders in F1," explained the Italian, speaking on a conference call with Wall Street analysts on Friday.

"We have said that we wanted to do three tests, one has been done in Silverstone, another one will be in Monza. And the other one will be at the end of the season in Brazil.

"At the end of this complete test, we're going to have a plan to see what will be the next step.

"What I can already say is that after the first sprint event in Silverstone, the response that we have, from the drivers, from the teams, the media, has been really positive.

"And also for the promoter, because if you think that every day, we had something new to say.

"People coming to the track on Friday were really tuned for the first qualifying already on Friday.

"So the outcome of the first event has been dramatically positive, if I may say, and it's great because that's brought attention, interest to TV, and also partners, because thanks to that we have brought in, for example, Crypto.com. And so we have already seen our financial influence being positive."

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Addressing the future, Domenicali made clear that sprint qualifying would not become the norm, with the format likely restricted to "historical" and suitable F1 venues.

"We're going to have a full debriefing, if I may say, at the end of the season," he said. "We have a plan for the future of course, we are developing that, we are fine-tuning [after] some of the comments that we received.

"And what I can say is that if we move as we should in that direction in the future, it will be not every race.

"We have ideas to create a special format for certain historical grands prix, and certain special awards that we want to offer, and add to the already incredible platform of F1.

"So very, very positive comments after the first exercise and [we're] ready to prepare at the end of the three events a proposal that can bring home what we can see hopefully will be a big step and a different future of F1, also a sporting proposition."

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