F1 teams agree on the proposal to overhaul the F1 Sprint weekend format

Reportedly, the F1 team bosses met during the Australian GP to agree upon the new format proposal.

F1 teams agree on the proposal to overhaul the F1 Sprint weekend format

The 2022 Austrian F1 Sprint start

The F1 Sprint weekend has become a mainstay in Formula 1. The 100km Saturday sprint race provides action for fans. With Qualifying replacing a Friday practice session. However, there had been talks to overhaul the format of the weekend for sprint races for some time. Red Bull and Haas Team Principals, Christian Horner, and Gunther Steiner had proposed a change to add a separate qualifying for this Saturday’s race.

Presently, the F1 Sprint weekend consists of Free Practice 1 on Friday. This is followed by the Qualifying session which sets the pecking order for the sprint. Saturday begins with a Free Practice 2 session which then leads to the Sprint Qualifying. This race sets the grid for the main race on Sunday. With points also being awarded to the top 8 this year. George Russell was the last driver to win an F1 Sprint, the Briton won the session at the 2022 Brazilian GP.

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The Sprint weekend was in a dire need of change

However, F1 teams agreed to change the format of the F1 Sprint weekend as per reports. The new proposal does away with the Saturday FP2 session. Instead, Qualifying is added for the Sprint race itself. The Friday Qualifying session would set the order for the Grand Prix itself. With the Saturday morning session deciding the grid for the Sprint race. Subsequently, the results of the sprint would not affect the pecking order on Sunday.

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DaySession
FridayFree Practice
Qualifying for Grand Prix
SaturdayQualifying for Sprint Race
Sprint Race
SundayGrand Prix
The proposed format

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The new F1 Sprint weekend proposal is yet to be approved

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George Russell was the last winner of the F1 Sprint in 2022

F1 teams have mutually agreed upon changing the F1 Sprint weekend. This idea was originally brought up by F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali. The team bosses held a meeting during the Australian GP weekend to come to terms with these changes. Although this would still need the complete approval of the sport in order to make it a reality for the Azerbaijan GP.

The new F1 Sprint format will need the overwhelming majority of the F1 commission. The commission consists of the 10 team bosses, 10 top heads from Formula 1, and 10 votes from Mohammed Ben Sulayem-led FIA. According to reports, this change will be approved for the upcoming race in Baku only if 28 out of the 30 votes are in favor of tweaking the Sprint format, and this is then signed off by the World Motor Sport Council.

Thus, this new format would change the way teams prepare for the F1 Sprint and would provide more action for fans. Currently, the Saturday practice session is of limited value to the teams. As minimal changes can be done under parc ferme conditions. Subsequently, this once approved would replace it with Qualifying for the sprint which would make it a mini-race in itself rather than a session to set the grid up for the Grand Prix.

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