Ex-F1 team boss proposes radical sprint race rule change

Ex-Formula 1 team owner Eddie Jordan has called on Formula 1 to introduce a radical change to Formula 1 sprint races.

The alternate format has been used at select weekends since 2021, adding an extra race to the event and placing higher pressure on the drivers and teams with less practice time available.

Jordan, who operated his own F1 team from 1991 to 2005, has expressed his distaste for sprint events - but suggested they could be used to give young drivers a chance to impress.

“There’s lots of young drivers out there who are twiddling their thumbs because it's really difficult to get in,” Jordan said on the Formula For Success podcast.

“And I came up with a little scheme. I hate sprint races, I think they're awful, they should be banned with immediate effect.

“However if we're going to keep them, please can the sprint races be for young drivers who have not completed 10 Grand Prix.”

'Avoiding faltering under F1 pressure'

Under F1’s current regulations, teams are required to give two rookie drivers a free practice outing every season.

They offer a valuable chance for drivers to add to their F1 experience, with in-season testing eliminated in recent years.

But David Coulthard, a 13-time grand prix winner and Jordan’s co-host suggested placing them in a race environment will allow teams to better judge their F1 potential, rather than assessing their junior careers.

“It would avoid potential young F2 drivers arriving on a full contract and then not delivering,[Nicholas] Latifi, Logan Sargeant at the moment,” Coulthard said.

“Latifi didn't rise to the level that maybe his junior Formula career would've shown. Sargeant hasn't reached the same level as Alex Albon [at Williams].

“You maybe could've found that out in a few sprint races, because F1 is very different to any other Formula.

“It’s a different pressure, it's a different animal altogether. The intensity, the pressure, the spotlight. Some people are just not cut out for that.”