07/10/2024
NEWS STORY
The FIA has announced that a planned rookie Sprint race to take place at the end of the season in Abu Dhabi will not now take place.
Following the summer break, ow however, Stefano Domenicali revealed that there had been talk of a one-off Sprint to take place as part of the post-season test in Abu Dhabi.
There is a project on the table," he told Motorsport.com, "namely the possibility of organising a sprint race for young drivers in Abu Dhabi.
"We are reflecting on how to give young people the opportunity during the Yas Marina test to shine and gain experience," he adds, "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.
"We will talk about it in detail by the end of September to understand the feasibility of this idea."
The teams were in full support.
I think it's great," said Haas boss Ayao Komatsu. "You know, the post-season test, if we don't do things like that, you are just doing the tyre test. So I think it adds value to the day and makes it more exciting and another opportunity to put young drivers in the car.
"These days, it's such a rare opportunity for young drivers to get in the current Formula 1 car," he added. "So I think it's really an interesting move."
"I fully agree," added Stake's Alessandro Alunni Bravi. "It's important to give the rookies more opportunities, to show them.
"We know how much it's difficult to get into Formula 1," he continued, "so I think that FP1 sessions are not sufficient to showcase what you can do. and there are a lot of risks linked to proper performance in FP1 also for the team.
"This is a really nice opportunity. Also for us, not having a TPC program it's an additional opportunity to have more data and to assess not just the performance itself, also the mindset and the approach of the rookie driver."
"It's something that I tabled at the last couple of Formula 1 Commission because I think it's great for the young drivers," said Christian Horner. "I think that the problem with some of the rookie tests is they all get used for testing. You never know, are they running on 50 kilos, 70 kilos, 30 kilos of fuel? What engine mode are they going? You don't really know. You don't know how the opposition are doing.
"So I think this is a non-championship race for the junior drivers. I think it's a fantastic opportunity and I think that it comes at the end of a busy season, but opposed to just running around burning fuel and tyres and only the teams that are running those drivers knowing whether they're doing a good job or not to give potentially 10 drivers or 10 rookies the opportunity of jumping in the current cars and having the equivalent of a Sprint race, I think is fantastic. And I think it'll be a really popular event."
Asked if it was likely that the Sprint will take place at the end of this season, Horner said: "Well, it's like all things in life: if you want it to happen, you make it happen.
"I think there was a clear directive to say, come on, let's get the job done for this year. And so obviously that puts pressure on the Sporting Working Groups and the various team managers to work with the FIA to come up with a set of regulations. But I think mainly adopting Sprint regs and so on, it's eminently doable.
"It doesn't need to be overcomplicated," he insisted. "I think it's just going to be a single car from each team rather than two cars. And effectively, you're just using the mileage in a different way as opposed to, you know, just performing over during a test day.
"So I think the event will take place all in one day... a qualifying and then the equivalent of a sprint race. So, yeah, it comes at the end of a long season, but I think it'll be a great thing. It's a great opportunity for the young drivers, and we're fully supportive of it."
However, at yesterday's meeting of the F1 Commission it was agreed that it was not feasible to hold the event this year and instead it is hoped to hold the event in 2025.
"The concept of a "rookie race" to be added to the 2024 post-season test schedule at Abu Dhabi was discussed," said the FIA in a statement.
"While the concept received widespread support, it was determined that due to timing and organisational constraints, the event would not take place in 2024, and discussions will continue to formulate a potential concept and plan for 2025."