During the 2021 season, F1 threw in the concept of the sprint race in order to spice things up a bit. Two years later, the sprint weekends always trigger a debate, and now, F1 has decided to revamp the format just as the community was getting comfortable with it. The change to the race weekend has even made a frustrated Max Verstappen threaten to level the sport.
Building upon F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali’s earlier comments about reducing practice sessions to just one per weekend and ensuring that every other time cars are on track, there is something to compete for, the updated sprint format brings this vision closer to reality.
How does the new Sprint format work and what is the F1 weekend schedule?
While the new format might sound complicated, it helps reduce much of the commotion around its original structure. Now, the weekend has more to give, more opportunities for teams to excel, or fumble.
The Azerbaijan GP serves as the test dummy for this new plan. On Friday, there will be the first practice session, after which, drivers will line up in the pit lane to face a qualifying session that will determine their grid positions for the main event on Sunday. Not the sprint of the race.
So what is Saturday for, and why have a sprint? Not only does the sprint day add more racing to the weekend, but more importantly, drivers are fighting for points. Thus, Saturday is independent of the race on Sunday. Nothing affects the main GP. The day will begin with a sprint race qualifying instead of FP3 and will be followed by the sprint race a few hours later.
This solves a lot of problems. It keeps the sanctity of race day and qualifying alive. The confusing asterisk of what defines a pole sitter on sprint weekends is also removed, as the man on pole on Friday will take the crown.
However, with just one practice session preceding a weekend of competition, the cars remain in parc ferme. Teams will not be able to change the setup at all, no matter what their data read over the weekend. Further, the weight of crashing during the sprint is heavier, as it will take a toll on the team on Sunday.
