Formula 1 has announced the introduction of a new format for sprint races starting with this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The sprint, which is a shorter Saturday race, has been made independent of the Grand Prix and will have its own qualifying session, known as the ‘sprint shootout’.
Qualifying to set the grid for the main Grand Prix will be held on Friday before a shorter qualifying session, to the same knockout format, on Saturday to set the sprint grid.
The ‘sprint’ qualifying will have three sessions, with the slowest five cars eliminated at the end of the first two, but the sessions will be cut to just 12, 10 and eight minutes. The three sessions in a standard qualifying run for 18, 15 and 12 minutes, respectively.
While tyre use in a standard qualifying session is free, it will be mandated by the rules for the sprint race qualifying – teams will have to use new tyres in each session: the ‘medium’ compound in the first two and ‘soft’ in the final top-10 contest.
The new format was agreed unanimously on Tuesday at a meeting of the F1 Commission – a rule-forming body that consists of governing body the FIA, commercial rights holder F1 and the teams – before being rubberstamped by legislative body the FIA world council.
The idea behind the changes is to introduce more jeopardy into the ‘sprint’ by encouraging drivers to take more risks.