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F1 introduces a new standalone Sprint Race format for 2023

The new F1 Sprint weekend will be held across 6 Grand Prix weekends over the 2023 season.

Sprint races in Formula 1 were introduced in 2021, wherein the traditional qualifying was shifted to Friday setting the grid for the 100 km Sprint Race on Saturday, which in turn determined the starting order for the main race on Sunday.

Now, Formula1 has made tweaks to the format, essentially making the Sprint Race a standalone feature - its results bearing no impact on the main race on Sunday.

As per the new Sprint weekend format, Fridays will now consist of an FP1 session and the regular qualifying session, which sets the grid for the main race on Sunday. Saturday will start off with an additional qualifying session called "Sprint Shootout", which sets the grid for the 100 km Sprint Race. The Sprint Shootout will have shorter durations, with SQ1 running for 12 minutes, SQ2 set for 10 minutes, and SQ3 being just 8 minutes long. Also, new tyres are mandatory for each phase, mediums for SQ1 and SQ2 and softs for SQ3.

Points for the Sprint race remain unchanged from last year - 8 points for the winner, 7 for second place and so on until eighth place, which gets 1 point. The points will be logged both to the driver and teams for their respective championships.

The new F1 Sprint weekend will be held across 6 Grand Prix weekends over the 2023 season. Apart from Azerbaijan, other Sprint venues include Austria (Red Bull Ring), Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps), Qatar (Lusail), USA (COTA) and Brazil (Interlagos).

Source: Formula1

 
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