Formula 1 Explained: All You Need To Know About Sprint Races

For the second year in succession China will host a Sprint weekend. In 2024 reigning world champion Max Verstappen easily defeated Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez to increase his substantial world championship lead.

The six Sprint weekends throughout the 24-round season will add extra spice to a traditional race weekend and reduce meaningless sessions that bring little value regarding ticket revenue or fan excitement.

However, Sprint weekends  willbring added stress for the teams and drivers, as they'll only have a single practice session on Friday morning to fine-tune the car. But if they oerfect it, there's a chance of claiming eight crucial world champion points if they take the checkered flag on Saturday morning.

But what makes a Sprint weekend so different?

Why did F1 start hosting Sprint races?

Prior to the start of a dramatic 2021 season, F1 introduced Sprint races with the vision of providing more excitement for those fans watching at the track or on television.

The original format saw opening practice remain on Friday morning before qualifying usually held on Saturday afternoon moved to Friday afternoon, and would instead set the grid for Saturday afternoon's Sprint rather than the race. Second practice now took place on Saturday morning replacing FP3, with the 100-km Sprint race taking place in the afternoon. The winner would secure pole position for Sunday's race.

Silverstone, host of the first F1 race in 1950, would also be the site of the inaugural Sprint weekend. Verstappen got revenge on Hamilton after narrowly losing pole in the closing seconds to take victory and pole position for the race. There, the two championship rivals would be involved in a controversial collision at Copse on lap 1, sending the Dutchman into the wall and suffering a 51g impact.

Monza hosted the second round, with Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas taking victory. However, a pre-race grid penalty sent him to the back of the grid and promoted Verstappen to pole position, where he would once again collide with Hamilton in the race.

The Finn won again in Interlagos, with Hamilton starting from the back after being disqualified from qualifying for a technical infringement charging to fifth before storming to victory in the Grand Prix a day later.

Despite some criticism from traditionalists and drivers alike, the Sprints didn't add value to the race weekend or were outright boring, F1 stood firm and kept them for 2022. Imola, the Red Bull Ring, and Interlagos would host the races. There, Verstappen took victory in Italy and Austria before George Russell won in Brazil

The format was refreshed for 2023. Practice time was further reduced, with the second session dropped for a mini-sprint shootout qualifying on Saturday morning. Qualifying remained on Friday but would instead set the grid for the Sprint rather than the primary race.

The number of Sprint races increased in 2023 from three to six, with Baku, Austin, Losail, and Spa Francorchamps joining the Red Bull Ring and Interlagos as hosts.

Red Bull dominated the Sprints, winning five of the six. Verstappen took the lion's share of victories, with four, while teammate Perez took one in Baku. McLaren's Oscar Piastri became the only non-Red Bull winner in Qatar.

In 2024, qualifying was moved back to Saturday and the Sprint to Saturday morning, while Miami and Shanghai replaced Baku and Spa on the Sprint calendar. Once again, Verstappen dominated, winning four times on course to a fourth consecutive world championship, whilst Lando Norris and Piastri took one apiece in Interlagos and Losail.

What does the Sprint weekend look like?

Now you know about the history of Sprints here's what a typical Sprint weekend format looks like. Friday begins with a one-hour practice session in the afternoon before Sprint qualifying. The format for Sprint qualifying sees each session descend in time: 12 minutes for SQ1, 10 for SQ2, and eight for SQ3. The session sets the grid for Saturday morning's Sprint, with all drivers using a mandated tyre compound for all three sessions: mediums for SQ1 and SQ3, with the faster softs used for SQ3.

Saturday kicks off with the Sprint, with the top eight earning points. Between the Sprint and qualifying, teams can make setup changes before the cars return to Parc Ferme conditions, preventing them from making further tweaks.

Finally, the race bookends the weekend with the top 10 scoring points, 25 of which goes to the race winner.

Which 2025 F1 venues will host Sprints?

The Sprint calendar has been slightly reshuffled for 2025, although China will hold the first Sprint on Saturday.

Miami is next on May 4th, with Spa returning to the Sprint calendar on the weekend of July 25-27 as the only European venue, replacing the Red Bull Ring.

Austin kicks off the second half of the Sprint calendar on October 17-19, followed by Interlagos on November 5-7 before Losail hosts the final Sprint of 2024 on November 28-30.

Do other championships host 'Sprint-style' races?

While F1 is entering the fifth season of it's Sprint experiment, it is still quite late to the concept of holding shortened races for points.

F1's support series has two race formats. Formula 2, the most esteemed feeder racing series and the last step for drivers hoping to graduate to F1 has a Sprint race alongside the longer Feature race. The two races, which have been in place since 2008, follow a reserve grid pole system, with the pole sitter starting the first race eighth and the driver who qualified eighth starting first. Formula 3 also uses the same format.

The World Superbike Championship have run 'Superpole' races at every round since 2019 alongside its two-race format, with the winner of the 10-lap battle royale awarded 12 points.

MotoGP also introduced shortened races in 2023, with the Sprint held after qualifying. Like in Superbikes, the victor receives 12 points, with points going down to ninth place.