The latest meeting of the F1 Commission worked above all with a future perspective, reviewing part of the technical regulations for the 2026 cars, about which many doubts had emerged at the presentation last June. Compared to the original proposal, the FIA has confirmed that it has reached a point of agreement with the teams, whereby the cars will see an increase in aerodynamic performance.
However, this was not the only topic of the meeting, because the sprint race for rookies was also discussed, an idea that had initially been proposed with a view to next year but which, in the last period, had also found support for a its possible introduction as early as the end of this season. The idea had been supported by several Team Principals and envisaged that each team would take to the track with one car, for a total of ten single-seaters on the starting grid, with qualifying and a sprint version of the race all taking place in a single day.
Clearly, there was also a fundamental problem: not all teams have two young drivers ready to get into the car who already had experience in a top series single-seater. Many teams in fact have drivers in their respective junior academies, but some of these, in addition to working in the simulator, have not yet climbed into an F1 car, while others, such as the drivers of the top teams, often accumulate kilometers with private tests.
Oliver Bearman and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, F1 debutants
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
Furthermore, there was also a second problem, namely that of the “carryover” of some parts of the cars, because some teams in any case will not invest large amounts of money in the winter to redesign some parts of the cars, given that next year will be the last year of this regulatory cycle, pushing to retain some elements that will also go on the 2025 machine.
However, although the idea of anticipating the proposal and implementing it at the end of this season had initially found consensus, in the end a meeting point was not found between all the parties and, in the end, the plan had to be abandoned. idea for this season “due to logic and time constraints” that are too complex to resolve in a few months.
“The concept of a rookie race to be added to the 2024 post-season testing program in Abu Dhabi was discussed,” read a report of the F1 Commission meeting.
“Although the idea has received widespread support, it has been determined that, due to time and organizational constraints, the event will not take place in 2024, but discussions will continue to formulate a potential concept and plan for 2025.”
Franco Colapinto is one of the drivers who debuted this season
Photo by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images
In fact, although the proposal has not been approved for this year, this does not mean that it will be definitively abandoned, because the teams are still in favor of the idea of having rookies cover more mileage on current F1 cars.
The idea will in fact be proposed again with a view to 2025, which will give all parties involved the opportunity to review the plans and organize the race more calmly by evaluating all the details, not to mention that, at the end of next season, there will no longer be the problem of carryover of car parts given that in 2026 there will be totally new single-seaters. Furthermore, a session dedicated to rookies only, if organized in a certain way, could also represent an opportunity for teams to welcome specific sponsors for the event.
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