Formula 1 Sprint Race: Full 2024 F1 schedule & new format

Formula 1 sprint race weekend enters its fourth instalment in 2024, with another tweak coming in this year to make the sprint weekends a better spectacle.

But what are the changes? And when and where are these sprint races being held in 2024? In this article, we’ll answer all your questions.

New format

The sprint race format will be undergoing its third tweak since it was first introduced in 2021.

The first piece of action on each Friday of a sprint race weekend will be free practice one session, which has always been the case, but for 2024, this will be followed by qualifying for the sprint race.

Saturday begins with the sprint race, making it the day’s first on-track event, as well as concluding the weekend’s sprint action, with qualifying for the Grand Prix proper taking place later that day.

Last year, the sprint format was essentially a standalone event inside a grand prix weekend, with free practice one session and qualifying for the grand prix taking place on Fridays before sprint qualifying and the sprint race being staged on Saturdays.

What has been said

The changes follow last season’s complications regarding parc ferme conditions, where cars were effectively locked into their set-ups on Fridays following just one practice session.

There were multiple instances where drivers had to sacrifice their grid positions for Sunday’s race by breaking parc ferme after teams found out they had installed an incorrect set-up for Sunday’s race.

It is expected that the shuffling of the sessions across the sprint race weekend will ensure that Parc Ferme can be reopened between the sprint race and main grand prix qualifying, allowing for any necessary set-up tweaks.

In 2024, the Chinese GP, Miami GP, Austrian GP, United States GP, Brazilian GP, and Qatar Grand Prix will all have a sprint weekend format, with both China and Miami replacing the Azerbaijan and Belgium sprint weekends from last season.

Further late changes for 2024 will include a rollback on the restricted power unit allocation, which had fallen from four to three for internal combustion engines, MGU-K, MGU-H, and turbochargers. This has been restored to four per driver for 2024 and 2025.

In addition, the rules regarding DRS usage will also see changes; the race director can now trigger DRS one lap after the start of the race instead of the current two-lap grace period. This also applies to race restarts after a safety car period.

When are the 2024 Formula 1 sprint races?

Chinese Grand Prix: April 21 

Miami Grand Prix: May 5 

Austrian Grand Prix: June 30

United States Grand Prix: October 20 

Brazilian Grand Prix: November 3 

Qatar Grand Prix: December 1

For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Telegram.