Silverstone earmarked as venue for one of three new Formula 1 sprint races in 2021

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Silverstone will host one of three new-for-2021 Formula 1 sprint races at the British Grand Prix weekend in July.

The iconic track has been earmarked for the revolutionary new Saturday race, which will decide the grid for the full-length grand prix on the Sunday.

The exact details for the sprint racing are set to be thrashed out in a meeting among Formula 1 bosses in Bahrain on Thursday with Italy, Brazil and Canada believed to be the current contenders for the other two sprint races on this season’s calendar.

New Formula 1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali told the Daily Mail: “We are finalising the intricacies of it. We will have qualifying on Friday and then ‘sprint qualifying’ on Saturday. It will provide some meaningful action the day before the race.

“Points will be awarded – how many is yet to be decided – towards the world championship and determine the grid for the race itself. What I can is that Silverstone will hold a sprint race.”

The reaction on the grid has been mixed to the new racing innovation. Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel said the idea “makes no sense”.

But McLaren CEO Zak Brown said he was fully behind the move ahead of the finalising discussions.

Brown told Standard Sport: “With the sport in a little bit of a transition year, with new leadership, carrying over the 2020 car, the biggest schedule, navigating Covid, this is the year to try some things to see what works, what doesn’t.

“The sprint race has been done in other forms of motorsport. It’s been well thought through. If it works, maybe we’ll do more of them. Or maybe it will be six a year or maybe all the time.

“That’s why need to see how this plays out. All other sports experiment with their game from time to time so for us to experiment this year is the right time to do it.”

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