F1 officials have confirmed that there will be three sprint races in the 2022 season in San, Austria and Brazil.
Sprint Qualifying races were introduced in 2021 at Silverstone, Monza and Interlagos on Saturdays to a mixed reception across F1 fans and media alike, with only the Sprint Qualifying race in Interlagos, Brazil proving successful following Lewis Hamilton’s drive from 20th to fifth.
Hamilton however took a five-place grid penalty for the main race but was able to race from tenth to victory in an ultimately futile title defence.
F1 officials have therefore decided to retain Sprint Qualifying in Brazil but drop Silverstone and Monza, with Emilia Romagna and Austrian Grands Prix at Imola and Red Bull Ring respectively now hosting Sprint Qualifying races in 2022.
The points system has also been tweaked with the top eight drivers in Sprint Qualifying now receiving points, with the winner collecting eight points and so on down to the eighth driver who will collect one point to complete the points-paying positions.
Clarification of ‘pole position’ has now been given ahead of the season, with whoever topping traditional knockout Qualifying on the Friday afternoons of those three race weekend awarded ‘pole position’ this season rather than the Sprint Qualifying winner as was the case last season.
Traditional Qualifying though will continue to set the grid for Sprint Qualifying races, with the results of the Sprint Qualifying races setting the grid for the main race on the Sunday.
FIA released a statement announcing these changes in which they stated that the tweaked race weekend format “created positive benefits for the sport,” with one less Practice session with FP2 moved into FP3 slot on Saturday before Sprint Qualifying.
Traditional knockout qualifying meanwhile took the FP2 slot on those three race weekends with the format set to remain for this season across the three selected rounds.
| Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| FP1 | FP2 | Race |
| Qualifying | Sprint Qualifying |
New Shortened Race Rules Set For Introduction
FIA also confirmed that there will be a new set of rules in place for shortened races following a farcical Belgian Grand Prix last season, where no racing laps were ran, yet points were awarded for completion of one lap under Safety Car conditions.
Under new rules to be introduced this season, no points will be awarded if the race leader fails to complete two laps under green flag conditions without any intervention of Safety Car or Virtual Safety Car.
There will also be adjustment to points systems for if less than 25% or 50% or 75% of the race distance have been completed.
If the race leader has completed a minimum of two laps but less than 25% race distance, only the top five drivers will receive points in the following order:
| Position | Points |
| 1 | 6 |
| 2 | 4 |
| 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 2 |
| 5 | 1 |
If 25-50% of race distance has been completed at time of abandonment, the top nine drivers will receive points in the following order:
| Position | Points |
| 1 | 13 |
| 2 | 10 |
| 3 | 8 |
| 4 | 6 |
| 5 | 5 |
| 6 | 4 |
| 7 | 3 |
| 8 | 2 |
| 9 | 1 |
Should 51-75% of race distance be completed at time of the race abandonment, the top ten drivers will receive the following points:
| Position | Points |
| 1 | 19 |
| 2 | 14 |
| 3 | 12 |
| 4 | 9 |
| 5 | 8 |
| 6 | 6 |
| 7 | 5 |
| 8 | 3 |
| 9 | 2 |
| 10 | 1 |
All regulatory changes though are subject to approval from World Motor Sport Council.
Leave a Reply