Confusion about budget cap increases: 'Why do we want to go back in time?'

The sprint races were a new part of the Formula 1 calendar in 2021, but meanwhile it is not yet certain whether they will return in 2022. Guenther Steiner would like to see the sprint races return, but he does not want an increase in the budget cap.

The sprint races are causing a lot of discussion, as some teams are against it and others are in favour of it. Several teams wanted more sprint races, but then asked for extra money. With an additional five million dollars, they would have enough money to compete in the sprint races.

McLaren team boss Zak Brown has already said that he does not want that to happen. Steiner agrees with Brown, as he too does not want the big teams to get even more money. "I’m not going out of my way so that the big teams get an advantage out of it because we raised the budget cap," said the Haas team boss at RACER. "Why would we open a loophole here that means we are going back to the ‘good old days’?"

The sprint races do have to 'make sense'

Steiner is against an increase of budget, but he is in favour of the sprint races. Yet the 56-year-old team boss also knows that it has to make sense. "But at the end of the day, it needs to make commercial sense, it needs to make sporting sense."

In November, it was announced that six sprint qualifiers would be held in 2022, but at the moment that is uncertain. Formula 1 is still busy discussing the sprint races and the potential increase of the budget ceiling.