Official: New sprint format with two qualifying sessions in Baku

The FIA has officially confirmed that the sprint format will be changed from Baku. In previous years, a sprint weekend counted one qualifying and two free practice sessions. From this year, only one free practice will be driven, but there will be two qualifying sessions.

In previous years, qualifying was held on Friday during a sprint weekend, with one free practice before that. On Saturday, the second free practice followed first with the sprint race after that. However, parc fermé rules already applied after Friday's qualifying, making the second free practice fairly useless, as almost nothing more could be changed to the cars anyway.

This new format also means that the result of the sprint race no longer determines the starting grid for the main race. This allows the drivers to take more risks in the sprint race, which should encourage action in this race. Drivers had long complained that the sprint race was all about 'keeping the car in one piece', but from this year onwards, that will no longer be the case.