Everything You Need to Know About F1's New Sprint Qualifying

With a record-breaking 22 races in store for the current season, the Formula 1 weekend is getting a shake-up with the introduction of the Sprint Qualifying set to invigorate 3 Grand Prix weekends in 2021.

The new format will include a 100-kilometer race that will take place on Saturday afternoon and will determine the make-up for Sunday’s starting grid. To accommodate the new changes, additional tweaks throughout the weekend will be made.

With no difference to all races in the season, Friday will begin with an hour of free practice (FP1); however, free practice 2 is replaced with the 3-part qualifying session normally seen on a Saturday afternoon. This qualifying session remains indifferent to the current format but, instead of setting the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix, it will set the grid for the Saturday Sprint qualifying.

Tyre regulations have been changed for sprint qualifying weekends, with only soft tyres permitted for the qualifying session. In light of this, teams are given the option to start with any tyre compound for the Grand Prix as well as Sprint qualifying.

The return of Free Practice 2 starts off Saturday morning with a one-hour session, each team's last chance to test out the track and their machinery; after that, it’s all racing. Over a 100-km distance, Sprint qualifying will take place on Saturday afternoon. There will be no pitstop requirements during the session but DRS will still be in operation. The chequered flag is raised and once all drivers have crossed, the order for Sunday’s race is finalized (with the exclusion of penalties). If an incident occurs, drivers are required to accomplish at least 90% of the laps to complete the race. Those who fail to do so will line up behind the classified finishers of the race.

All gird penalties related to gearbox changes, exceeding power unit component allowances, arising from gaining three reprimands, or tyre misuse will only be applied in the race. However, penalities can still occur during the sprint race which will be based on the instructions given by the race stewards.

Aside from driver’s fighting for pole position, World Championship points are awarded for the top 3 of the race–3 points for first, 2 for second, and 1 for third–added to both drivers and team standings. There is no podium after the sprint race. Additionally, points for sprint qualifying are only awarded if the leading driver has completed at least 75% of the race; however, half points are given if the leader completes more than 2 laps but less than 75% of the race. Sprint race results do not count in the case of a countback situation in the championship. Parc Ferme, the window of time given to teams for extra car revisions and tweaks will be extended from the start of Friday’s practice to the end of the weekend. However, there are some exceptions to this, mainly fixes in suspension and brake systems.

Sunday’s race remains untouched and it’s lights out for the full grand Prix to end off the weekend. The sprint qualifying debuted this year at the British (at the Silverstone Circuit), Italian (at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza), and Brazilian (at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace “Interlagos”) Grand Prix this season.