The 2021 F1 season is going to see several sprint races and one of the venues has been chosen to be the Silverstone Circuit, CEO Stefano Domenicali has confirmed on Thursday.
The original idea of hosting sprint races before the Grand Prix was proposed back in 2020, however, the idea failed to come to fruition with the last season being rigged with COVID-19 troubles.
However, things are looking better this time around as the British Grand Prix, which is scheduled on 18th July this year will see the much-awaited sprint race, a half an hour adrenaline rushing event a day before the main event.
Sprint race will “provide some meaningful action” before the Sunday GP, says F1 CEO Domenicali
The concept to have sprint race included into the weekend programme is one of the biggest changes in the history of F1. The qualifier will now be shifted to Friday, to determine the grid positions for the Sprint race on Saturday, which will in turn finalise the Grand Prix starting grid for Sunday.
The three race weekend idea waas originally proposed to take place at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montréal, Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo and the Monza Circuit, but F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has confirmed Silverstone as one of the tracks to host the sprint race.
‘We are finalising the intricacies of it. For sure we do not want to take away the prestige of the Grand Prix itself. That will remain the climax of the weekend,” Domenicali told Sportsmail, “we will have qualifying on Friday and then “sprint qualifying” on Saturday.“
“It will provide some meaningful action the day before the race. It will give fans, media and broadcasters more content. It will last about half an hour. There will be no podium celebration. That will wait until Sunday,” the CEO added.
The sprint race at Silverstone is expected to have a crowd presence of over 100k, in accordance with the protocols of the British government. However, as Domenicali himself recently expressed the desire to get the spectators back as soon as possible, inaugurating the historic step of a three-race weekend in front of a live crowd will raise the anticipation bar even higher.
Further details about the sprint races will be talked through this Thursday at Bahrain, which will also host the pre-season testing.
