How will the sprint weekend format work during the 2024 Formula 1 season?
F1 News
This weekend's Austrian will see the third sprint format of the 2024 Formula 1 season. This year's sprint format will see F1 try another way of formatting the alternative weekend compared to 2023. Here's what has changed and how it will work in 2024.
Two sprint weekends have already been completed. The first occurred in China with the second in Miami just one round later. The weekend in Austria will be the last time the sprint format is used in Formula 1 until late October in the United States. Brazil and Qatar will also host sprint races in 2024.
How will the sprint weekends work in 2024?
The main change for 2024 is the running order. The weekend will begin with 60 minutes of practice. This will be the only practice session during the entire weekend. Every other session is meaningful for the World Championship. Last season, F1 teams went straight to qualifying for Sunday's Grand Prix. Instead of hosting a sprint on Saturday, qualifying for the sprint race will take place on Friday. The sprint race itself will be the first bit of on-track action on Saturday before qualifying for the Grand Prix takes place in its traditional time slot. Sunday's Grand Prix remains unchanged.
As a result, there are some changes regarding parc ferme. Teams will enter Parc Ferme when they leave the garage for Friday's sprint qualifying, but restrictions will be released after the sprint race. Teams and drivers can then make changes to the car before qualifying for the Grand Prix. This means that should a team make a set-up mistake during the 60 minutes of practice, they have the chance to change and improve the situation.
Sprint qualifying will again use the format of SQ1 being 12 minutes, SQ2 being 10 minutes, and SQ3 being just eight minutes. Teams must have a new set of medium tyres for SQ1 and SQ2.