Williams Team Principal James Vowles has revealed talks remain ongoing over whether Formula 1’s Sprint format will change for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Baku City Circuit will host the first Sprint event of the season next weekend as the four-week spring break comes to a conclusion. Concerns have been aired over the validity of the Azeri capital hosting a Sprint race given the tendency for incident, with teams constrained financially by a stringent budget cap. But ahead of the event, teams are understood to have agreed to alterations to the format that sees a race take place on Saturday, with tweaks set to bring in a second qualifying session to split the 100km Sprint from the grand prix on Sunday. These changes must be ratified officially, however, with Vowles confirming the saga continues ahead of the sport’s return to action. Slight modifications “We have Baku coming up and again, I think a track that should suit the capability of our car,” said Vowles, speaking in a video posted to Williams’ website. “Whilst we sit here 10th in the championship with just a point to our name, it is not a fair reflection of the work that has gone into this car this year or the performance the car can have on track. “It is going to be a Sprint race weekend, potentially with slight modifications to the rules we have had previously and that work is now ongoing in the background to understand how we should restructure the race weekend and what the implications of that will be on everyone. “Irrespective of whether the rules change or not, a sprint race weekend at that tight, twisty track where you go through the castle section is going to cause a little bit of mayhem.”
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