There are two months left to the start of the 2022 F1 championship and Liberty Media has not yet formalized the number, locations and methods through which the Sprint Qualifying which debuted in 2021 at Silverstone, Monza and Interlagos. Behind this ‘delay’ there would be a considerable tussle between the top teams, Liberty Media and the rest of the starting grid. McLaren patron Zak Brown, a champion of the budget cap since 2020 when the cost ceiling was formalized, has let it be understood.
The CEO of the Woking team wants to defend at all costs this important achievement that should prevent the top teams from making a difference “Simply by writing checks”Brown said. The object of the dispute is the amount that the top teams would like to see allocated to cover any unexpected costs that can arise from sprint races, which on the occasion of the starts could generate very expensive carom, such as occurred in Hungary in Budapest (obviously it was not a sprint race, but the strike of Bottas and Stroll at the start broke the power units of Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc with consequent unexpected costs for Ferrari and Red Bull, a dynamic that could recur in a start of a sprint race).
In 2021 the amount allocated was 750 thousand euros, a sum that a top team would like to see more than fivefold and brought to 5 million euros. “Behind the excuse of costs to cover for any accidents that can never lead to costs of this magnitude, the top teams want to bypass the budget cap to continue to be able to make a difference simply by spending more since they are observing that their margin against the rest of the starting grid is getting thinner “Brown pointed out. For 2022, 28 votes out of 30 are needed to give the green light to the sprint race regulations and if the top teams do not give up on the request for the extra millions of euros the prospect is to see sprint races postponed to 2023, when the yes of only six out of ten teams will be enough to formalize the regulation.
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