FLOYD ON F1: Bugger the purists, sprint races here to stay

The cancellation of last weekend’s Imola F1 Grand Prix was a very responsible decision, as was Formula One’s donation of €1 million (about R21 million) to the flood victims and families.

Images of the area and the track showed unbelievable damage, deep water flooded properties and vehicles alike, the affect on the citizens must be devastating.

It is really difficult to analyse the current status of F1 and the future of the sport under owners Liberty Media.

Claims of a new growing fan base, rather than the supportive loyal fans is the battle cry from Formula One Management’s (FOM) chief Stefano Domenicali and Liberty Media’s chief executive and president Greg Maffei.

The calendar length is another area of controversy mooted for 30 races a year as a future possibility, plus the idea of an increasing number of sprints – this year we have six but Domenicali is talking of increasing this to a third of the calendar in future.

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F1 mini races

The FOM chief has informed the media there will be more “mini races” in future.

“The result of the first one of this year has been very encouraging. Every one of our partners, promoters, media partners and also the teams, were very positive about that.”

He continued: “Of course, there is something we want to take as a lesson learned to see at the end of summer if there is something we can learn to do something better, but in general terms, the first weekend of the sprint format has been great.”

But it was his closing comment that concerned me, and I feel is more relevant to the primary reason for his proposal.

“The promoters are pushing for it, but we don’t want to go in a situation where in the future we’re going to have all the races with the sprint format.

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Something special

“We want to keep a limited number, maybe one third of the calendar, and create something special with regard to the competition that we can give sporting value with trophies and, of course, commercial opportunities. That’s the right way to go.”

Quite a statement, as an informal mini survey among fellow traditionalists and a few younger generation members known to yours truly reflected the complete opposite, a total dislike of the concept.

But this is the 21st century and sadly, it would appear the very idea of a purist sport must bow to the almighty dollar.

All being well this weekend, we will be watching the so-called “jewel in the crown”, the Monaco F1 Grand Prix.