Changes to Formula 1’s Sprint weekend format have been officially confirmed earlier today, with just a few days ahead of the 2023 F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend at the Baku City Circuit.
As Formula 1 continues to work on its goal of improving the intensity of racing in the special Sprint format – which has been introduced two years ago, with mixed feedback during this time, the FIA, Formula 1 and the ten teams have now agreed that the Sprint should in fact be a ‘standalone’ event.
Until now, drivers took part in qualifying on the Friday and the results at the end of the session determined the grid for the Saturday Sprint. The result of the Sprint then determined the grid for the Grand Prix on Sunday.
Now a separate, shorter qualifying session, called the Sprint Shootout, will take place on Saturday mornings and replace FP2. This means that the independent Sprint qualifying and race will all take place on Saturday.
Friday’s running will still include a practice session, which is now the only one of the weekend, and the traditional qualifying hour, which determines the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix, as per conventional F1 weekends.
The Sprint Shootout will become a shorter version of traditional qualifying, with the new Q1, Q2 and Q3 sessions lasting for 12, 10 and 8 minutes respectively, as was reported by the media during the last few weeks.
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The new qualifying format will also test dedicated Pire tyre compounds for each part of the qualifying sessions, and teams will have a slightly reduced tyre allocation for the entire Sprint weekend at the Baku City Circuit, which will make things even more interesting.
It’s hoped that the change will remove an element of caution to the Sprint races, with drivers electing to take fewer chances and risk dropping to the back of the field for the main Grand Prix.
It seems that teams reached an agreement during the Australian Grand Prix weekend last time out, but the approval by the F1 Commission, and ratification by the World Motor Sport Council, was required for the changes to be officially announced.
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