The strongly positive trend and the best will in the world were ultimately not enough. The idea of a sprint race reserved for rookies to close the 2024 season was ruled out this Tuesday, October 2 during a meeting of the F1 Commission, organized at the premises of the Visa Cash App RB team in Faenza.
Despite a basic consensus, particularly among team directors, logistical and organizational realities have caught up with the players, pushing them to postpone this possibility until next season.
The original idea, first mentioned at the end of August, was to find a new opportunity to give young drivers track time but also to be able to better evaluate them. “in a competitive context”. Thus emerged the possibility of taking advantage of the end of season testing, which traditionally takes place over two days in Abu Dhabi, in the wake of the last Grand Prix of the season.
Stefano Domenicali himself confirmed the hypothesis, which was “on the table” to organize, at the end of these tests at Yas Marina, qualifications followed by a 100 km sprint race pitting only drivers who have competed in less than two Grands Prix in their career. “We are thinking about how to give young people the opportunity to shine and gain experience”then said the CEO of Formula 1.
If taking advantage of the presence of the teams on site with two single-seaters seemed a good idea, the complications proved too numerous. With too short a time frame, and in the era of the budget ceiling, it became obvious that organizing this non-championship event was going to be a headache in terms of transporting personnel and providing sufficient number of rooms. for single-seaters, management of team personnel, or even implementation of TV broadcasting processes.
“While the concept received broad support, it was determined that due to scheduling and organizational constraints, the event would not take place in 2024, and discussions will continue to formulate a concept and a potential plans for 2025”said the F1 Commission in its report.
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