As we head into the fifth Formula 1 race of the 2024 season, we’ve arrived at our first Sprint race, happening this weekend at Shanghai International Circuit. It’s the first time the sport has raced in China since 2019.
The Sprint is back with some interesting changes for its fourth season in the sport.
Only five drivers have taken a win in a Sprint race: Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas, George Russell, Sergio Perez, and Oscar Piastri. This leaves the 15 other drivers with the opportunity to bag themselves their first Sprint win this season.
Set to feature across six Grand Prix weekends in 2024, this short-form race aims to add an extra dose of adrenaline into the sport.
What’s New for 2024?
Sprint Weekend Structure:
This season brings some significant changes to the Sprint weekend format. Gone are the traditional Friday and Saturday practice sessions. Instead, F1 swaps FP2 and FP3 for two different sessions: the Sprint race and Sprint qualifying.
On Friday, after FP1, the drivers have a qualifying session for the Sprint, determining the starting grid for Saturday’s Sprint race.
The Sprint itself kicks off on Saturday, followed by the Grand Prix qualifying. The Grand Prix remains, as usual, on Sunday.
Sprint Race Rules:
Unlike the standard 305km-length Grand Prix, the Sprint is all about the sprint to the finish line, with only the top eight drivers earning points.
There are 8pts for P1, 7pts for P2, and so on to P8, who will score 1pt. This is a major change from the 2021 Sprint point allocation rules, where only the top three drivers were awarded points (3, 2, and 1 respectively).
Following the format of Grand Prix Qualifying, the bottom five drivers in both session 1 and session 2 are eliminated until only 10 drivers remain.
For the Sprint, there is no mandatory two-compound tyre strategy, meaning that there is no necessity for a pit stop during the session.
This puts the emphasis on driver overtaking and strategic decision-making.
There are just 12 minutes for drivers to try to break out of SQ1, 10 minutes to get out of SQ2, and the final session, SQ3, being just eight minutes.
The 2024 Sprint Calendar:
The Sprint is set to occur at six rounds throughout the 2024 F1 season.
Whether it’s navigating the long straights at the Red Bull Ring or the high-speed corners at Circuit of the Americas, each circuit will bring its unique challenges to the race weekend.
Here are the 6 races that the Sprint format will be occurring at this season:
- Chinese GP at Shanghai International Circuit
- Miami GP at Miami International Autodrome
- Austrian GP at the Red Bull Ring
- United States GP at Circuit of the Americas
- São Paulo GP at Autódromo José Carlos Pace
- Qatar GP at Losail International Circuit
2024 Sprint and Parc Fermé Changes:
The two Sprint sessions will now happen on Friday and Saturday, rather than 2023’s self-contained Sprint Saturday.
FP2 will be replaced by the Sprint qualifying session, with the Sprint race replacing FP3.
Sprint Qualifying is no longer called ‘Sprint Shootout’ and is simply returning to ‘Sprint Qualifying’.
As the Sprint sessions no longer break apart Grand Prix Qualifying and the Grand Prix, there are now two separate Parc Fermé periods.
The first will occur between Sprint qualifying and the Sprint race.
The second will occur between Grand Prix Qualifying and the Grand Prix.
This may be an advantage to the teams, as they can use data from the Sprint race to make set-up changes ahead of the Grand Prix Qualifying, enabling them to increase performance and make adjustments for Sunday’s Grand Prix in the process.
