For a while it looked as if there would be no sprint races in Formula 1 at all this year, but the phenomenon introduced last year is returning. There will be fewer sprint races than planned and some things will also change.
Initially, the intention was to hold six sprint races in the Formula 1 season of 2022. That plan was jeopardized because there was disagreement between Formula 1 and some teams about the financial compensation. Now the FIA has announced that there are three sprint races this year. These take place prior to the Grands Prix of Emilia Romagna (Imola), Austria and Brazil. That automatically means that the other destinations where sprint races would be, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands, are left out.
Again, on the weekends when there is a sprint race, qualifying will take place on Friday. The result of the qualification determines the starting grid for the sprint race on Saturday. The result is the starting grid for the Grand Prix on Sunday. So far nothing new. What is new is that there are more points to be gained. The winner gets 8 points (was 3 points), the number 2 gets 7 (was 2), the number 3 gets 6, and so on. Until the eighth finish position there are points to be gained, because the number 8 gets 1 point. A good performance in the sprint race therefore pays off more than before.
What also changes is that from now on whoever is fastest in qualifying on Friday will officially receive a pole position. Last year, pole position was officially attributed to the winner of the sprint race. It’s purely a change for the books. It is still the case that whoever wins the sprint race will start the Grand Prix on Sunday in first place. So you can take pole position in qualifying, but that does not give you any guarantee of the first starting spot for Sunday, just like last year.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl