F1 considering rookie sprint race for Abu Dhabi post-season

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has confirmed that the sport is looking into staging a sprint race for rookies to be held at Abu Dhabi as part of the post-season young drivers test.

“There is a project on the table, namely the possibility of organising a sprint race for young drivers in Abu Dhabi,” Domenicali told media including Motorsport.com ahead of this weekend's Italian GP.

“We are reflecting on how to give young people the opportunity during the Yas Marina test to shine and gain experience," he explained. "Not only by driving in the test, but also in a competitive context.

“It would certainly help their training, aimed at making them prepared for the next step," he added. "We will talk about it in detail by the end of September to understand the feasibility of this idea.”

The idea has arisen in the wake of talks at the F1 Commission between Formula 1 management and team principals over how to offer greater opportunities to young drivers to get out on track in current F1 hardware.

• Read also: Domenicali says reverse grids for F1 sprints 'warrants a debate’

Restrictions on track testing time together with budget caps for teams has meant that aspiring F1 hopefuls have little chance to get the in-car experience they ned to be ready for promotion to the Grand Prix grid.

F2 driver Franco Colapinto made his F1 weekend debut in Free Practice 1 at Silverstone at the start of July and now has to brace himself for rapid ascension to the big time when he takes over from Logan Sargeant this weekend.

Team bosses are increasingly concerned that rookies are simply not as prepared for such advancement as they were a decade ago, and believe that more must be done to support and development the sport's future stars.

A proposal to allow rookie wildcard entries to Grand Prix races was rejected on the grounds that it would be impractical to start fielding third cars, and that standing down existing star drivers in favour of a rookie would not go down well.

While mandating more FP1 sessions for rookies is still being considered, the idea of giving young drivers actual real world race experience adds a new dimension to the debate, with obvious advantages and appeal.

Currently teams are required to run two cars in the single-day test that takes place in Abu Dhabi on the Tuesday after the season finale at the same venue in December.

One of the cars has to be driven by a rookie driver who cannot have taken part in more than than two Grand Prix races to date while the other is for tyre testing of next year’s compounds undertaken by a current full-time driver.

Incoming Haas driver Oliver Bearman would be eligible to take part in this year's test despite making his GP debut in Saudi Arabia for Ferrari, as would Jack Doohan and Andrea Kimi Antonelli - but not Franco Colapinto if he sees out the season at Williams.

Any change to the existing structure would require a modification to the existing sporting regulations, so F1 sporting directors have been asked to consider the idea ahead of the next F1 Commission meeting in September.

There would be major logistical challenges to running such a race, as well as how any television coverage would be organised, which might make it too complicated to organise in time for this year.

Domenicali remains a big fan and advocate of sprint races in the sport as a whole, and would like to see more of them during the season. Currently, six of the 24 race weekends adopt the sprint format.

“There is the possibility in the future - but not in 2025 - of increasing the number of weekends,” he said. “We're seeing more and more interest.

"Obviously we cannot think of a choice like the one made by MotoGP where every weekend is a sprint," he acknowledged. "But I believe there is space to increase the number of sprints, and we will discuss it by the end of the year.”

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