F1 have added Sprint Shootout Qualifying to the Sprint weekend format across selected races in the 2023 season.
Azerbaijan, Austria, Belgium, Qatar, USA and Sao Paulo, Brazil, were confirmed in December 2022 as the six races which would host Sprint Race weekends this season.
The format initially was expected to remain the same as in the last two seasons with FP1 and Qualifying on Fridays followed by FP2 and Sprint Race on Saturdays – with the Sprint Race result setting the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix.
F1 officials and teams have since decided to respond to criticism of fans over FP2 taking place after Qualifying, which now means that FP2 has been axed in favour of a Sprint Qualifying session to set the Sprint Race grid.
Friday’s Qualifying session will therefore set the grid for the Grand Prix on Sundays separately from the Sprint Qualifying, which would only affect the Sprint Races with no implications in-turn on the main race following the result of the Sprint Race in those six rounds.
Grid penalties therefore have been tweaked with penalties picked up during FP1 and Qualifying on Sprint weekends only applying to the Grand Prix, whilst penalties in Sprint Qualifying will apply to the Sprint Race but penalties occured in the Sprint Race will be applied to the Grand Prix grid.
Breaches of parc ferme rules at any point of the weekend meanwhile would see drivers forced to start both the Sprint Race and Grand Prix from the pit lane, although power-unit penalties unrelated to parc ferme rules will be applied solely to the Grand Prix at that round.
Sprint Qualifying will also have a shorter format with Q1, Q2 and Q3 all seeing their time length reduced as follows;
- Q1 – 12 minutes
- Q2 – 10 minutes
- Q3 – 8 minutes
Tyres will also be mandatory across all sessions with only medium tyres permitted in Q1 and Q2, whilst only the soft tyres must be used in Q3 alone.
There will be no changes to the points system with the top eight finishers all receiving points in the Sprint Races.
F1 officials have also approved an increase in Internal Combustion Engine, turbocharger, MGU-H and MGU-K elements from three to four for this season only.
The cost cap rules have also been amended to exclude ‘Sustainability Initiative Costs’ which covers cost associated with installation of sustainable infrastructor, auditing and monitoring of carbon footprint, donation to environmental sustainability projects ran by charities plus carbon offset schemes.
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