Formula 1 bosses will consider introducing a 'Grand Slam' award as they continue to tinker with the divisive Sprint format.
This season is the third in which the Sprints have been present. And more are being held this year than ever before, with six across the calendar – two of which have already taken place in Azerbaijan and Austria.
As well as being more prolific, the Sprint weekends also look a little different this year. Instead of a second practice session on a Saturday morning, there is now another qualifying session which sets the grid for the short-form race later that day.
Such changes have been common as part of chiefs' fine-tuning of the format. And it appears there is more where that came from.
Chief executive Stefano Domenicali has suggested a 'Grand Slam' award for a driver who takes pole and victory in both Sprint and Grand Prix on the same weekend. The idea will be one of several discussed at the next meeting of the F1 Commission over the Belgian Grand Prix weekend later this month.
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Domenicali went into detail about the idea in an interview with Motorsport.com, during which he also confirmed there are no current plans to expand the format further. He said: "There will be six Sprints and we will announce them I think in September, because we have a meeting of the Formula 1 Commission scheduled for the weekend of the Belgian GP.
"There is a proposal that I would like to make, in line with the concept of the 'Grand Slam'. It is that drivers who take the two poles and the two race wins over the weekend should be recognised with something extra, which represents well the sporting enterprise they have achieved."
F1 Sprint winners currently get a handful of world championship points and a small plaque (AP)It is not currently known what form the reward for such an achievement on a Sprint weekend would take. It it not likely to be in the form of extra championship points, though, adding little tangible incentive for drivers and teams.
Other potential changes to Sprint weekends, such as parc ferme rules and a potential rescheduling of when the each session takes place, are also set to be discussed at that Belgium meeting. But while some fans and drivers have complained about regular changes to the format, Domenicali insists he sees little risk of turning off swathes of viewers.
The Italian added: "We have analysed this point. I believe that the risk is more related to loyal viewers, who have their own habits, rather than to new fans, who are much more open to change. However, there is no big news on the format front. We want to stabilise the six weekends with the sprint race and respect the habits of the long-time fans."
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