McLaren says Formula 1’s top teams are using the sprint race format as an excuse to try and retain their financial advantage.
After being trialled at three races last year, albeit to a mixed reaction, F1 chiefs want to double the number of Sprint weekends to six this season, including the opening round in Bahrain next month.
But that could all be thwarted by an argument around how much leeway teams are granted in terms of exceeding the budget cap.
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In 2021, a margin of $150k was given for each sprint race, equalling $450k, plus $100k for an event where a car was damaged in an accident.
This year, it is reported F1 bosses are offering a flat $500k for five sprint races plus $150k for each one above that figure, meaning $650k for the proposed six.
However, last month, McLaren CEO Zak Brown claimed some of the bigger teams were demanding an additional $5m, essentially putting the total budget cap back up to the $145m limit it had last year.
“Our opportunity to be competitive has been underpinned with the introduction of the budget cap in F1,” he added in a column published on the team’s website.
“With the spending limit reducing to $140m this year and $135m next, the new financial regulations present us – and the sport as a whole – with a fairer framework to compete by reducing the inevitable advantage of the biggest-spending and best-resourced teams.
“However, we must continue to drive economic sustainability across the sport.
“Some teams still look for excuses to raise the cost cap and win World Championships with a chequebook,” he argued.
“The ongoing lobbying by certain teams to increase the cost cap for sprint race damage is a continuing example.
“The Saturday sprint race initiative by Formula 1 has added new viewers and raised the profile of the sport to expand its global fanbase.
“However, these teams continue to demand a raise to the cost cap by an inordinate amount of money, despite the clear evidence that little damage was incurred during these races last year, in a thinly veiled attempt to protect from their competitive advantage being eroded.”
Given the financial clout of Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari, those teams are top of the list when it comes to who is potentially putting F1’s sprint race plans for 2022 into doubt.
For them to go ahead, eight of the 10 teams need to agree and if those three refused to budge, that threshold would not be met.
Brown has already suggested F1 should perhaps accept defeat in 2022 and instead focus on 2023, where only six teams would need to agree now for the vote to pass.
While Red Bull boss Christian Horner is also now calling for a final decision to be made.
“I think that the sprint races were interesting last year,” he was quoted by F1i.com.
“I think the format wasn’t perfect. I’m very much a purist: I believe that qualifying and the race are the fundamental aspects of a Grand Prix.
“But if you don’t try something, you don’t know, and I think there are things that could be done to make it more exciting, to make it more interesting.
“But it’s getting quite late now and we’re going to need to have a decision pretty shortly.”
