How a race weekend works

A standard Formula 1 weekend has five sessions over three days: two practice sessions on Friday, a final practice session and qualifying on Saturday, and the race on Sunday. Teams arrive earlier in the week to build their garages, and the drivers start work on Thursday with media duties.

#The standard weekend

Times vary by event, but FP1 and FP2 are normally two to three hours apart, and qualifying follows FP3 by two to three hours on Saturday.

#Thursday: media day

No cars run on Thursday. Drivers do interviews, some take part in the FIA press conference, and teams finish preparing the cars. Engineers walk the track, and the cars are checked by the FIA's technical team during initial scrutineering.

Teams also have to tell the FIA about any new parts they've brought. Formula 1 publishes these lists before practice starts, so you can see who has upgrades.

#Friday: practice

The two practice sessions are where teams find a set-up for the track and learn about the tyres. Drivers practise qualifying laps on low fuel, then do longer runs on heavier fuel to see how the car behaves in race conditions. Results in practice don't count for anything, so the timesheet can be misleading. See practice sessions for how to read them.

#Saturday: final practice and qualifying

FP3 is the last chance to fine-tune the car. Teams focus on qualifying pace, because changes after qualifying are very limited.

Qualifying is a knockout in three parts, Q1, Q2 and Q3. The slowest cars are eliminated at the end of each part, and the 10 fastest fight for pole position in Q3. Once a car goes out in qualifying, it is under parc fermé rules, which stop teams making big set-up changes before the race.

#Sunday: the race

The pit lane opens 40 minutes before the formation lap, and drivers do one or more reconnaissance laps on their way to the grid. There's a drivers' parade earlier in the day, and the national anthem is played shortly before the start.

The race starts with a formation lap, then a standing start from the grid. Most races are a little over 305 km long, which works out at around an hour and a half. Monaco is shorter, at around 260 km. There are also time limits: see race distance and time limits.

After the chequered flag, the top three go to the podium, the cars are weighed and checked, and the stewards may still be looking at incidents. Results can change for some hours afterwards. See after the chequered flag.

#Sprint weekends

Six weekends in 2026 use the sprint format, which cuts practice down to one session and adds a short race on Saturday:

The sprint is about 100 km long, with points for the top eight. Full details are in how sprint weekends work.

#Behind the scenes

Teams can't work around the clock. The rules set out restricted periods (sometimes called curfews) on the nights before Friday and Saturday running, when team staff who work on the cars are not allowed in the circuit. Each team has a few exceptions it can use across the season, for example when a car needs rebuilding after a crash. The rule protects staff from impossibly long hours.

There is also a limit on how many people each team can have working on the cars at the track, which is lifted for the short period around the start of the race.