How sprint weekends work
A sprint is a short race of about 100 km, held on the Saturday of selected Grand Prix weekends. It takes around half an hour, has no compulsory pit stop, and pays points to the top eight. The main Grand Prix still happens on Sunday as normal.
In 2026 there are six sprint weekends: China, Miami, Canada, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Singapore. The FIA calls these "alternative format" weekends in the rulebook.
The schedule
A sprint weekend fits two qualifying sessions and two races into three days, so most of the practice is cut.
| Day | Normal weekend | Sprint weekend |
|---|---|---|
| Friday | Practice 1, Practice 2 | Practice 1, Sprint qualifying |
| Saturday | Practice 3, Qualifying | Sprint, Qualifying |
| Sunday | Grand Prix | Grand Prix |
That leaves teams with a single one-hour practice session before the cars go into parc fermé for sprint qualifying. Getting the set-up right in that hour is much harder, which is part of the appeal: weekends are less predictable.
Sprint qualifying
Sprint qualifying sets the grid for the sprint. It's a shorter version of normal qualifying, with three knockout parts of 12, 10 and 8 minutes, and fixed tyre rules. See sprint qualifying for the details.
The sprint race
The sprint distance is the smallest number of laps that adds up to more than 100 km, which is roughly a third of a Grand Prix. If it runs on for an hour because of safety cars or other delays, it ends at the end of the following lap. If it's stopped by a red flag, the time spent stopped is added on, up to a maximum of 1 hour 30 minutes in total.
Unlike the Grand Prix, there's no rule that drivers must use two different tyre compounds, so most drivers run the whole sprint without stopping. Teams pick whatever tyre they think will last the distance fastest.
The start, flags, safety car and penalties all work the same way as in a Grand Prix. A driver has to complete 90% of the winner's laps to be classified.
Points
The top eight finishers score points, which count towards both championships in the same way as Grand Prix points.
| Position | Points |
|---|---|
| 1st | 8 |
| 2nd | 7 |
| 3rd | 6 |
| 4th | 5 |
| 5th | 4 |
| 6th | 3 |
| 7th | 2 |
| 8th | 1 |
If the sprint ends early for any reason, points are only given if the leader has completed at least 50% of the planned distance. Under that, nobody scores. The leader also needs at least two full laps without a safety car or virtual safety car before any points are possible.
On a sprint weekend the most a driver can score is 33 points: 8 from the sprint and 25 from the Grand Prix. See the points system for more.
Between the sprint and the Grand Prix
The sprint result doesn't affect the Grand Prix grid. That's set by Saturday afternoon qualifying, a few hours after the sprint.
After the sprint starts, parc fermé lifts, so teams can change their set-up before Grand Prix qualifying. Many use what they learned in the sprint to tune the car for Sunday.
Grid penalties are also kept separate. A penalty for the sprint applies to the sprint grid, and one for the race applies to the Sunday grid. Penalties for using too many power unit parts always apply to the Grand Prix.
How the format has changed
The sprint has been reworked almost every year since it was introduced:
- 2021: Three trial events called "sprint qualifying". The result set the Grand Prix grid, and only the top three scored points (3, 2 and 1).
- 2022: Renamed the sprint, with points extended to the top eight (8 down to 1).
- 2023: The sprint was separated from the Grand Prix. A new Saturday "sprint shootout" set the sprint grid, and Friday qualifying set the Grand Prix grid.
- 2024: The current running order came in, with sprint qualifying on Friday and Grand Prix qualifying moved to Saturday after the sprint. Parc fermé was opened up between the two.
The number of sprints has stayed at six a season since 2023. The venues change from year to year.