Formula 1 could introduce a non-championship race for rookies as soon as this December, according to Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner.
The concept of a rookies-only race has been kicked around among F1 management and team principals for months, with Horner a principal proponent. The proposal is for a single-day event following the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the week after which is ordinarily reserved for young driver testing at the Yas Marina Circuit.
With testing of current cars almost entirely banned, backers of the plan argue a one-day Sprint event would offer rookies a more representative seat time compared to hours of unstructured testing.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
“It’s something that I tabled at the last couple of Formula 1 commissions because I think it’s great for the young drivers,” Horner said. “I think that the problem with some of the rookie tests is they all get used for testing. You never know — are they running on 50 kilos, 70 kilos, 30 kilos of fuel? What engine mode are they going? You don’t really know. You don’t know how the opposition are doing. So I think this is a non-championship race for the junior drivers. I think it’s a fantastic opportunity.
“It comes at the end of a busy season, but opposed to just running around burning fuel and tires and [having] only the teams that are running those drivers knowing whether they’re doing a good job or not, to give potentially 10 drivers or 10 rookies the opportunity of jumping in the current cars and having the equivalent of a Sprint race, I think is fantastic, and I think it’ll be a really popular event.”
Expectations had been that the proposal would target a 2025 launch, but work has recently been accelerated to make the necessary rule changes to get it over the line in time to run this year, with Abu Dhabi’s GP scheduled on Dec. 8.
“It’s like all things in life, if you want it to happen, you make it happen,” Horner said. “I think there was a clear directive to say, ‘Come on, let’s get the job done for this year.’
“Obviously that puts pressure on the sporting working groups and the various team managers to work with the FIA to come up with a set of regulations, but I think [by] mainly adopting Sprint regs and so on, it’s eminently doable.
“It doesn’t need to be overcomplicated. I think it’s just going to be a single car from each team rather than two cars, and effectively you’re just using the mileage in a different way as opposed to just performing over during a test day. I think the event will take place all in one day, so a qualifying and then the equivalent of a Sprint race.
“It comes at the end of a long season, but I think it’ll be a great thing. It’s a great opportunity for the young drivers, and we’re fully supportive of it.”
Beyond the sporting regulations, there would also be hurdles to overcome with how a new race would fit into the cost cap and the restriction on power unit parts. The logistics of running the day as a race event rather than a test would also need to be worked out, including whether it’s given the same broadcast treatment as a grand prix. But Kick Sauber team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi said the benefits to evaluating young talent would be immense compared to the current FP1-dependent scenario.
“FP1 sessions are not sufficient to showcase what you can do, and there are a lot of risks linked to proper performance in FP1 also for the team,” he said. “This is a really nice opportunity. Also for us, not having a [testing of previous cars] program, it’s an additional opportunity to have more data and to assess not just the performance itself [but] also the mindset and the approach of the rookie driver.”