How does an F1 sprint weekend work?
A normal Grand Prix weekend has one qualifying session and one race. A sprint weekend has two of each — its own qualifying, its own race, its own points on offer, all squeezed into the same three days as everyone else's build-up.
Why sprint weekends exist
F1 introduced the sprint format in 2021, aiming to give fans something competitive to watch on every single day of a race weekend rather than just Friday practice followed by the “real” action on Saturday and Sunday. The format’s been through a few revisions since — how qualifying for it works, how points are awarded — but the core idea has stuck. 2026 is its sixth season, and six of the year’s 24 races run to the sprint format: China, Miami, Canada, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Singapore.
Friday: one practice, then a knockout qualifying session
On a normal weekend, Friday is two long practice sessions. On a sprint weekend, it’s one hour of practice, full stop — then straight into Sprint Qualifying, which sets the grid for Saturday’s sprint race. Sprint Qualifying follows the same knockout structure as a normal qualifying session (three segments, slowest cars eliminated after each one), just compressed: 12 minutes, then 10, then 8. Tyres are restricted too — a new set of mediums is mandatory for the first two segments, a set of softs for the last — which limits teams to one real flying lap per segment rather than the multiple attempts a normal qualifying hour allows. For more on what each compound actually means, see our tyre compounds explainer.
Saturday: the sprint itself, then qualifying for Sunday
Saturday morning is the sprint race — about 100km, roughly a third of a full Grand Prix distance, run in around 30 minutes with no mandatory pit stops. It’s a genuine race with points on the line, not an exhibition, which is why drivers treat it with real intensity despite the shorter distance. Saturday afternoon then hosts a normal, full-length qualifying session, which sets the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix — completely separate from whatever happened in the sprint that morning.
Car setups are locked (under what’s called parc fermé) from Friday’s Sprint Qualifying through Saturday’s sprint race, meaning teams can’t make significant changes between the two. Once the sprint finishes, though, they’re free to adjust the car again before Saturday afternoon’s Grand Prix qualifying — a change from earlier years, when the setup stayed locked for the entire weekend. Breach these rules and the penalties can be severe — see our F1 penalties guide for how parc fermé breaches are handled.
How the points work
The top eight finishers in the sprint score points toward the championship: 8 for the winner, down to 1 for eighth place, 36 points on offer across the field. There’s no bonus point for fastest lap in the sprint, and a strong sprint result doesn’t carry over into Sunday’s grid in any way — the Grand Prix grid is set purely by Saturday afternoon’s separate qualifying session. It’s genuinely two race weekends bolted together, not one long one with an extra stage.
Where it lands this year
Zandvoort hosts its first-ever sprint weekend on 21–23 August 2026, alongside Silverstone’s return to the sprint calendar for the first time since hosting the format’s 2021 debut. The sprint calendar changes most years — six races host it in 2026, and the specific venues will likely look different by 2027 — so whichever races currently carry the format, the shape of the weekend itself stays the same: one practice session, a compressed qualifying hour with its own tyre rules, a genuine points-paying race on Saturday morning, then a completely separate qualifying and Grand Prix to close out the weekend.
Every session, every sprint, every Grand Prix — know exactly where to watch it
Open Watchsport →