Brawn "quite optimistic" F1 sprint races won’t devalue main Sunday grand prix

Ross Brawn is confident the introduction of "sprint qualifying" at three Formula 1 races in 2021 will not devalue the main grand prix on a Sunday.

F1 plans to run sprint races for the first time at three grands prix this season with Brawn titling the new format as "sprint qualifying" when speaking to the world feed during day two of testing in Bahrain.

Silverstone, Monza and Interlagos are the likely three venues to trial the new sprint race format.

The sprint race proposals would mean qualifying takes place on Friday to form the grid for "sprint qualifying" and the result of the Saturday sprint race would form the grid for the main grand prix on the Sunday.

Explaining F1’s reasoning for trialling out the new format, Brawn said: “We want to fill out the weekend. The critical thing is to preserve the grand prix.

“We want the winner of the grand prix to come away from those weekends still being the strongest and most successful competitor of that weekend but we want to fill out the weekend and we want to give the fans something more substantial to look at and follow on a Friday, something interesting on a Saturday.

“So as well as the sprint qualifying we’re going to have the normal qualifying on a Friday. You qualify for your position in sprint qualifying and the sprint qualifying will take you forward to the race. So really we have a much fuller weekend and that’s what we want to explore.”

Should the new format not prove to be a success, Brawn revealed the plans would be scrapped and an alternative would be looked at.

“I think we want this opportunity to try it at three races this year,” Brawn added. “If it doesn’t work then we’ll put our hands up and we’ll go away and we’ll think about it again. But I’m quite optimistic about it. I think if you take the view of the whole weekend then it’s got a lot going for it.”