F1’s sprint race plan for 2022 threatened by money stand-off

After trialing three sprint races at the British, Italian and Sao Paulo Grands Prix last season, F1 chiefs were aiming to increase the number of events to six for the upcoming 2022 campaign.

With teams restricted to operating within a $145million budget cap last year, they were given an extra $450,000 to cover the three sprint races, along with allowances of up to $100,000 per car to cover potential accident damage.

According to Brown, F1’s plans to expand the number of sprint races this season could be derailed because some teams are pushing for an increase to the budget cap, which falls to $140m for 2022.

“We might not, which would be the unfortunate thing,” Brown was quoted by the BBC when asked how F1 can resolve the stand-off. 

“We all have the same challenge,” he added. “If you do happen to have more incidents, that's the same problem we all have. 

“And to me that's part of the sport. It is dealing with challenges: not I just want to solve it by getting my chequebook out.”

Brown claimed one unnamed team wants the cost cap limit increased by $5m. 

"A couple of teams, and one team in particular, wanted a $5m budget cap increase, which was just ridiculous," he said. 

"And no rational facts behind it. When you challenged them, they go to what if and could and you've got to anticipate. You sit there and go 'This is just nonsense.’”

Under F1’s current governance structure, the world championship requires a ‘super majority’ of 28 votes from the 30 representatives in the F1 Commission to successfully push through changes for this year. 

Eight out of the 10 teams would need to agree on the details in order for the sprint plan to get the green light. 

However, only five teams would need to be aligned in order to vote through more sprint events for 2023. Brown suggested F1 should focus on reaching an agreement for next season before attempting to resolve the impasse regarding 2022. 

“There’s a lower threshold required to get it through for ’23, so I’d like us not to run into a situation where we’re voting in ’23 where we have to get votes because we passed a milestone date,” he said. 

“I think we should go ahead and lock in now for ’23 with no budget cap raise at all, if you want to be hard about it.

"Maybe there can be a compromise raised and we raise it a little bit, and we start in 2022 or we skip 2022, and a couple of these teams should have to explain to the fans why there is no sprint races."