McLaren's Zak Brown has raised concerns that there could be a possibility of no Sprint races taking place in 2022 if an impasse amongst some teams over money cannot be resolved. The event was trialled at three race weekends during 2021, and this had initially looked set to increase to six this season. In a financial deal agreed last year, it was decided that teams would be given a small payment to offset the cost of any potential damage from the additional race. However, Brown says that some of the bigger teams have been pushing for an increase in the budget cap as a result. "A couple of teams, and one team in particular, wanted a $5 million budget cap increase, which was just ridiculous," Brown told the BBC . "And no rational facts behind it. When you challenged them, they go to what if and could and you've got to anticipate. You sit there and go 'This is just nonsense.'"
No Sprint races in 2022 would be "unfortunate" for F1
Eight out of the 10 teams need to agree to a change of the rules in order for them to be implemented in the championship of the same calendar year. Only five teams need to agree to the introduction of more Sprint races in 2023, though. As such, Brown believes that F1 should vote this through before then trying to sort the agreement for this year. "Maybe there can be a compromise raised and we raise it a little bit, and we start in 2022 or we skip 2022, and a couple of these teams should have to explain to the fans why there is no Sprint races," he explained. Brown admits that there is a chance that F1 "might not" be able to resolve the issue for 2022, which he feels would be "unfortunate". The McLaren CEO has suggested that this row highlights the issue of bigger teams pressuring smaller outfits who they may be linked to in order for them to vote in their favour. This isn't the first time recently that Brown has criticised other Formula 1 teams over this issue. He recently hit out at some of McLaren's rivals for "holding the sport hostage" over the budget cap .
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