F1 Sprint: Proposed changes to Sprint weekend format being voted on by F1 Commission on Tuesday

F1 Commission meeting to vote on changes to Sprint weekend format; proposal is that the Grand Prix and Sprint will have separate qualifying events; with Saturday’s shorter race no longer setting grid for Sunday; Practice Two would be replaced by new qualifying session for Sprint

Baku hosts the first Sprint weekend of 2023

Proposed changes to F1 Sprint weekends are being voted on on Tuesday ahead of the format returning at this weekend’s Azerbaijan GP.

The F1 Commission is meeting to finalise changes which would see the Grand Prix and Sprint have their own qualifying sessions, meaning Saturday’s shorter race would no longer set the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Instead, Friday evening’s hour-long qualifying session will decide the grid order for Sunday.

The hope is that drivers will be encouraged to be more attacking and take more risks during Saturday’s 100km Sprint given an incident would no longer compromise them on Sunday.

The proposed changes will see Saturday’s Practice Two session removed from the weekend schedule, with it being replaced by a new, separate qualifying session for the Sprint.

Practice Two on Sprint weekends have largely become meaningless as F1’s parc ferme rules mean teams are unable to make changes to car set-up for the session.

“The Saturday morning session was boring as hell,” Haas boss Guenther Steiner told the latest Sky Sports F1 Podcast. “It was boring for me, for the fans it’s even more boring, so doing a qualifying session instead is good.”

If voted through by the F1 Commission, the changes will require approval from the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council to be in place for Baku.

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On the Sky Sports F1 Podcast Simon Lazenby examines the pros and cons of the Sprint race weekends

For 2023 F1 has doubled the number of Sprint races from three – as seen in 2021 and 2022 – to six.

Saturday’s event in Baku will be the first time the Sprint has been held on a street circuit in Formula 1. The Sprint will then be held in Austria, Belgium, Qatar, USA and Brazil this season.

At the Australian GP, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur said the teams had agreed to changing the format.

“For once I think all the teams were aligned. It’s not very often that it’s the case so we have to jump on it,” said Vasseur.

“I like the format. I’m not a big fan of the usual FP2, sometimes it’s a bit boring… To try to have something more dynamic during the weekend is a good decision.”

How have Sprint weekends run up to now?

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Check out the key moments from the Sao Paulo Grand Prix Sprint

F1’s Sprint debuted in 2021 and saw the usual weekend format changed to introduce a second, shortened race to offer more wheel-to-wheel action and make each day of the Grand Prix weekend have something significant.

It saw qualifying moved from Saturday afternoon to Friday evening, with the hour-long session setting the grid for the Sprint.

The result of the Sprint would then decide Sunday’s starting order – the driver who won the Sprint would start the Grand Prix on pole, if someone crashed out or retired with car trouble they’d be starting from the back.

The top eight positions in the Sprint scored points.

Practice One would take place on Friday afternoon before qualifying with Practice Two happening on Saturday morning ahead of the Sprint.

The Formula 1 season resumes with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from April 28-30, with the first Sprint weekend of 2023 shown in full live on Sky Sports F1. Watch Saturday’s Sprint at 2:30pm and Sunday’s race at 12pm. Get Sky Sports