What is F1 sprint race? Points, grid lineup and everything else explained

Published at :April 27, 2023 at 8:49 PM

Modified at :May 25, 2023 at 1:05 AM

We take a look at the newly introduced format of the qualifying race for the main event.

The F1 sprint race was a new format of race that was introduced in the 2021 Formula 1 season. It was designed to add excitement to the race weekend by having a shorter race on Saturday, which determined the grid for the main race on Sunday. The 2023 Azerbaijan GP will see a newer version of the sprint race format which will ensure all the sessions are worth every effort throughout the weekend.

Azerbaijan F1 sprint race newly introduced format:

The F1 sprint race will see a substantial change this year as the championships previously for the 2021 and 2022 season had the Qualifying Session on Friday and the Sprint Race on Saturday which served as a qualifying race for the main event on Sunday.

But for the 2023 season, Azerbaijan GP will witness a Sprint Shootout on Saturday as the Qualifying for the Sprint Race which will take place the same afternoon. The points system for the Saturday Sprint race will see the top eight drivers scoring points with eight being the highest and the eighth one getting one point.

Practice Session

Free Practice 1 or FP1 will be the same 60 minutes of practice time starting at 11:30 AM on Friday for all the teams and the drivers to test their cars by setting their one-lap speed and race pace for the rest of the weekend. The only drawback they will have is to have the main race Qualifying on the same afternoon.

Qualifying Session

The Official Qualifying for the main Sunday race will take place at 3:00 PM on Friday under the same traditional Q1, Q2, and Q3 format of 18, 15 and 12 minutes respectively. Here, the slowest five drivers will get eliminated as the Qualifying rounds went up for the final Q3 consisting of the top 10 drivers to determine the final race grid lineup.

Sprint Shootout

The grid lineup for the Saturday Sprint Race will be determined by a single qualifying session that takes place on the same day earlier. At 11:30 AM, the newly introduced short race will have its three-part Qualifying session where It will have Q1, Q2 and Q3, but with a reduced format of 12, 10, and 8 minutes, respectively with the five slowest cars getting eliminated in the first two qualifying rounds.

The first and the second qualifying round will have mandatory use of Medium Tyres and the final qualifying of eight minutes will have mandatory Soft Tyres for all the drivers.

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Sprint Race

Based on the grid lineup decided through the Sprint Shootout, the race will start at 3:30 PM and the race will have a 100 Kilometre race (around 15 laps) which is expected to last around 30 minutes. Moreover, the drivers can make a pit stop during this sprint but it will not be mandatory, which was not allowed previously. The points system for the same will be the following:

Winner: 8 points.
Second-placed: 7 points.
Third-placed: 6 points.
Fourth-placed: 5 points.
Fifth-placed: 4 points.
Sixth-placed: 3 points.
Seventh-placed: 2 points.
Eighth-placed: 1 point.

The results of the Saturday Sprint Race will have no impact on the Sunday Main Race grid lineup as it will be completely dependent on the Qualifying session that takes place on Friday. The fastest driver in the Friday qualifying session will start the Sunday race from the pole position, followed by the second-fastest driver and so on.

Overall, the F1 sprint race was an exciting addition to the race weekend, as it provided fans with an extra race to watch and added an element of unpredictability to the grid for the main race on Sunday but with changes in the Sprint the predictability factor will be less important but the fans will get to witness two of a kind different races in one weekend.