The basics
F1 sprint weekends explained: format, schedule and points
Six weekends in 2026 add a short Saturday race, the sprint, with its own qualifying session and its own points. It packs more competitive running into the weekend, with less practice time for the teams to get their cars right.
Normal weekend vs sprint weekend
| 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 |
With only one hour of practice, teams have to find a good set-up almost straight away, which makes sprint weekends less predictable.
Sprint qualifying
A shortened version of normal qualifying: SQ1 runs 12 minutes, SQ2 10 minutes and SQ3 8 minutes. Six cars drop out in each of the first two parts, and the top ten fight for sprint pole. The result sets the grid for the sprint only.
The sprint
The sprint covers about 100 km, roughly a third of a grand prix, with a 60-minute time limit. There's no mandatory pit stop, so most drivers run the whole race on one set of tyres. Points go to the top eight: 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The sprint result doesn't affect the grand prix grid; that's decided by Saturday afternoon's normal qualifying.
Two rounds of parc fermé
Teams can change their set-up once more after the sprint: the cars are locked from sprint qualifying until the sprint, then released briefly afterwards, then locked again from the start of grand prix qualifying until the race.
The 2026 sprints
- Chinese Grand Prix: sprint won by George Russell
- Miami Grand Prix: sprint won by Lando Norris
- Canadian Grand Prix: sprint won by George Russell
- British Grand Prix: sprint won by Andrea Kimi Antonelli
- Dutch Grand Prix: sprint won by George Russell
- Singapore Grand Prix: sprint won by Max Verstappen
A sprint weekend is worth up to 33 points to one driver, which can swing a title fight quickly. See how the title is decided.
