Formula 1: 3 rule changes to introduce with the 2022 car

Rule change #1: Replace sprint qualifying with heat races

The FIA introduced its first major change to the qualifying format in nearly 15 years this season when they ran sprint qualifying races at three circuits: Silverstone, Monza and Interlagos. The shuffled Saturdays were met with mixed reviews, but the format will be expanded to six tracks (tracks TBD) next year.

Most drivers took a conservative approach to the special sessions, content to hold on to whatever position they had grabbed during the three-round knockout qualifying session on Friday. There were a few dramatic moments, and replacing a practice session with some actual racing definitely spruced those weekends up a little bit.

But most of the sprint races were nerve-wracking for the wrong reasons. There wasn’t enough of a reward for a strong performance to inspire much competition, and the fear of ruining the weekend with a spin or wreck made for less-than-Sunday levels of action.

Changing from sprint qualifying to a heat race format would provide the stakes necessary to make every minute on track count. Friday free practice sessions could be run as they currently are, but Saturday would be devoted to three heat race sessions.

The format could even be set up in a way that makes team strategy critical: have each team run one car in each race and let them decide which driver competes in which race. Team principals would send their assignments to the race director blind to their competitors’ choices.

This format would also give the FIA an opportunity to introduce another tweak that has been suggested in many forums over recent seasons.

If the grid for the first two heat races were set to the reverse of the constructor championship standings, it would put the burden on faster cars to push for position from lights out and make the first two Saturday heat races markedly more interesting.

But qualifying should still reward the fastest drivers and fastest cars, so the third race – between the first five finishers from each morning race – would be gridded from fastest to slowest, giving the best cars and drivers the best shot at Sunday’s pole.

Fans then get Sundays with wall-to-wall action, with stakes and challenges enough to bring the best out of drivers, and teams get opportunities to make impactful strategic moves. Everybody wins.