'Formula 1 wants to win over top teams with higher budget cap in 2022'

According to Auto, Motor und Sport there is no certainty yet about the number of sprint races. Formula 1 would like to organise six races but needs approval of at least eight teams. For this, the management has come up with a solution.

Sprint race at Zandvoort

In 2021 a new race weekend format was tested. During the Grands Prix of Great Britain, Italy and Brazil, qualifying was on Friday and a sprint race was organised on Saturday. In 2022 F1 wants to continue this plan and at least double the number of weekends with a sprint race.

To do this F1 needs approval from the teams. Eight out of ten to be precise. This hasn't happened yet and therefore there are no negotiations with the circuits. According to the German media Bahrein, Imola, Montreal, Spielberg, Zandvoort and Interlagos are on the list of possible circuits for a GP.

Higher budget cap

To make sure more teams say 'yes' to the proposal, F1 is now considering increasing the budget cap, according to AMuS. The big teams (Mercedes, Red Bull Racing and Ferrari) are sitting on every penny and are balking at the fact that sprint races carry more costs due to the potential crashes.

F1 tempted those teams with an offer to increase the budget cap by $2.65 million. This amount is then specifically for the six sprint races. In addition, the teams will also get an extra $1.2 million to spend on the 22nd and 23rd races on the F1 calendar in 2022. Together this makes for an increase from 140 to 145.05 million dollars.