3 F1 Sprint Events Confirmed For 2022 With Some Welcome Changes

There were many uncertainties surrounding the F1 Sprint for the 2022 season onward. While there were speculations on there being 6 sprint events because of the entertainment factor last year around. However, there was also the chance of having none, with the teams already overwhelmed with the challenges surrounding the major regulation changes for 2022. During the F1 commission meeting yesterday, it was confirmed by FIA that F1 will yet again be hosting 3 F1 Sprint events this year, but at some different venues and with two crucial changes!

This was unanimously decided in the meeting considering that 3 'F1 Sprint' races was "a sensible number in light of the pressures already on the teams for this season with the introduction of major changes to the regulations."

For starters, following Lewis Hamilton's spectacular charge from last on the grid to fifth in the F1 Sprint at Brazil, we will be seeing another Sprint race there this season. This will be accompanied by Italy hosting another Sprint race, however, this time the F1 Sprint will be held at Imola, with the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, and not the Italian GP like last year. We will also see an F1 Sprint event at the Austrian Grand Prix, which has the potential to be a great event considering the multiple overtaking opportunities at the race-track.

There are also 2 major changes when it comes to the rewards system of the Sprint Race Weekend. First, the name of the F1 Sprint Qualifying has officially been changed to "F1 Sprint", meaning that this will not be a qualifying event. Even though it will still decide the grid for the Sunday's race, what this crucially changes is that the pole position stat will finally be awarded to the winner of the Friday Qualifying and not the winner of the F1 Sprint, thereby restoring the integrity of that stat as the fastest driver over one lap instead of just who was going to start the race on Sunday in P1. This decision will surely make the drivers happy, as they felt it was unfair to not be awarded with the stat after being the fastest in Qualifying.

What was also revised was the Points system for the F1 Sprint, with points being awarded for the top 8 positions instead of just the podium sitters. The winner of the F1 Sprint will earn 8 championship points, P2 will get 7, and so on till P8, who will get 1 championship point. This gives extra incentive to all the teams to run more aggressive car and engine setups and to the drivers to be a little less conservative in their approach, which will surely result in better racing!