F1 unanimously votes in favour of Sprint changes

Sam Hall
Tuesday 25 April 2023 17:33 - Updated: 17:49

The F1 Commission has agreed to change the Sprint format ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

A vote took place on Tuesday with members of the F1 Commission unanimously giving proposed changes to the Sprint the green light.

The Friday schedule remains unchanged, with first practice and the regular three-part qualifying still taking place.

However, this qualifying session will now set the grid for Sunday's race, and not the Sprint.

This is because Saturday will become its own event - titled the Sprint Shootout - with a qualifying session replacing FP2 to decide the grid order for the sprint. As before, the Sprint will then take place in the afternoon, although the outcome will no longer affect the Sunday grid.

A revised Saturday Sprint qualifying session

The Sprint Shootout qualifying will be take a similar look to that of a regular qualifying session in that it will be made up of three phases.

But, much like the race, these sessions will be shorter than normal, with SQ1 lasting 12 minutes, SQ 2 ten minutes, and SQ3 just eight minutes.

In each session, drivers must use one set of previously unused dry-weather tyres. The compounds uses in each session will be mandated by the FIA, trialling a change that has been considered for regular qualifying sessions.

Penalty confusion avoided

Given the desire to make the Sprint Shootout its own mini-event, penalties awarded during either FP1 or qualifying will only affect the race itself.

Similarly, sanctions from the Sprint qualifying session will apply to the Sprint.

However, should a driver receive a punishment during the Sprint, this WILL affect the Sunday race.

The changes will now be put to the World Motor Sport Council, with the body needing to ratify changes before they can be implemented.