Red Bull boss Christian Horner says that the planned Abu Dhabi Formula 1 rookie sprint event will be a “fantastic opportunity” for young drivers.
As previously reported the idea is to have a short qualifying session followed by a sprint race at Yas Marina on the Tuesday after the season finale.
One car from each team will take part with a rookie driver, defined as someone who hasn’t started more than two races.
The event will give already confirmed 2025 race drivers Kimi Antonelli, Jack Doohan and Oliver Bearman a chance to run some extra mileage.
Bearman will still be eligible assuming he doesn’t make a third F1 start between this weekend’s Azerbaijan GP and the end of the season.
In contrast Franco Colapinto and Liam Lawson won’t be able to take part.
Other teams can run drivers who otherwise would be unlikely to have a chance race an F1 car in the foreseeable future, with Red Bull likely to field Isack Hadjar and Ayumu Iwasa in the RBR and VCARB cars.
First discussed seriously by the F1 Commission a couple of months ago the event took a step closer to becoming a reality after a meeting of team managers in the sporting advisory commission in Geneva last week.
The gathering discussed specific rules for the event any potential anomalies that would need to be addressed.
Although as a sprint there will be no scheduled stops the idea of not having full pit crews on hand as a cost-saving exercise is unlikely to happen, in case anyone has to stop with a puncture or wing damage.
“It’s something that I tabled at the last couple of F1 Commissions,” said Horner when asked about the event by this writer.
“I think it’s great for the young drivers. And 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 as a non-championship race for the junior drivers, I think it’s fantastic opportunity.
“It comes at the end of a busy season, but opposed to just running around burning fuel and tyres and 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 it’s fantastic, and I think it’ll be a really popular event.”
Horner said that the challenges associated with making the event happen at short notice will be overcome.
“It’s like all things in life. If you want it to happen, you make it happen,” he said. “And I think there was a clear directive to say, ‘Come on, let’s get the job done for this year.’
“And so 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 mainly adopting sprint regs and so on, it’s eminently doable.
“Doesn’t need to be over-complicated. 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 during a test day.
“So I think the event will take place all in one day, so qualifying, and then the equivalent of a sprint race. So it comes at the end of a long season, but I think it’ll be a great thing. It’s a great opportunity for young drivers, and we’re fully supportive of it.”
Adam Cooper F1 