Sprint races, new points system discussed by Strategy Group

The addition of sprint races to a Formula 1 race weekend and a revision of the existing points system were among the topics discussed at the latest Strategy Group meeting, Force India chiefs Vijay Mallya and Otmar Szafnauer have revealed.

F1 bosses are currently evaluating widespread changes for the sport in the hope of making it more sustainable for teams and more attractive to both fans and new entrants, with a revised set of technical regulations planned for 2021.

However, there is an aim to make some changes to the sporting regulations for the 2020 season to avoid a complete sea change in a single season, with the idea of a sprint race - either in place of or as well as qualifying - being floated on a number of occasions.

Speaking on Friday at Silverstone following the latest Strategy Group meeting earlier this week, Force India owner Mallya and chief operating officer Szafnauer - both of whom were in attendance - revealed that new ideas for the sporting regulations were once again discussed.

“There were some things that were presented and introduced just to get our feedback at the Strategy Group. There’s some more work to be done, so it’s not definitive,” Szafnauer said.

“But the good news is again, that’s coming from a scientific angle too. I think there’s a sample size of 7,000 fans that they asked about some of the different sporting regs that they could be changing, and then presented that to us. We gave feedback, and now they’re going to do some more work on it.”

Szafnauer confirmed the Strategy Group discussed a potential change in the format of race weekends, with a sprint race once again arising as an option for 2020.

“There was some change of format discussions: a change of format in qualifying, and perhaps adding a sprint race on Saturday. But nothing definitive,” Szafnauer said.

“We’ve got to be really careful. If you do add a sprint race, what does that do to the main race? Does it dilute it? There are a lot of considerations. Although I believe personally a sprint race works in F2, I’m not so sure it’s the right thing for Formula 1.”

Mallya later added that a new points system had also been discussed, with one option being to award points to every driver on the grid in a similar fashion to IndyCar or NASCAR in the United States.

“The other thing that was discussed at the Strategy Group meeting was a potential change in the points system,” Mallya said.

“They’re considering whether the points system should go all the way down to 20, 20 being every car scores a point if they finish the race. Or whether 10 [cars scoring points] should be extended down to 15.

“All these discussions took place. Of course, my comment also was that considering we have to pay [entry fee] for every point we score to the FIA, that will have to be looked at in parallel!”