How will the sprint weekend format work during the 2024 Formula 1 season?

This weekend's Chinese Grand Prix will see the first sprint format of the 2024 Formula 1 season. This year's sprint format will see F1 try another way of formatting the alternative weekend. Here's what has changed and how it will work in 2024.

Weekends in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Japan have all used Formula 1's traditional format. But for the first time since the 2023 Brazilian Grand Prix in early November, the sprint format returns. That alone is rather remarkable: the F1 circus has not visited China since 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic, which means the F1 cars with their current concept have not been driven around the Shanghai International Circuit. There is also a chance of rain during the only practice session. 

How will the sprint weekends work in 2024?

Once again, there are six sprint weekends this season. The first will take place in China. The following race weekend in Miami will also use the sprint race format. Austria will host the final sprint race before the summer break in June. The final three sprint weekends will take place at the United States Grand Prix, the Brazilian Grand Prix and the Qatar Grand Prix. 

The main change for 2024 is the running order. The weekend will begin with 60 minutes of practice. This will be the only practice session during the entire weekend. Every other session is meaningful for the World Championship. Last season, F1 teams went straight to qualifying for Sunday's Grand Prix. Instead of hosting a sprint on Saturday, qualifying for the sprint race will take place on Friday. The sprint race itself will be the first bit of on-track action on Saturday before qualifying for the Grand Prix takes place in its traditional time slot. Sunday's Grand Prix remains unchanged. 

As a result, there are some changes regarding parc ferme. Teams will enter Parc Ferme when they leave the garage for Friday's sprint qualifying, but restrictions will be released after the sprint race. Teams and drivers can then make changes to the car before qualifying for the Grand Prix. This means that should a team make a set-up mistake during the 60 minutes of practice, they have the chance to change and improve the situation. 

Sprint qualifying will again use the format of SQ1 being 12 minutes, SQ2 being 10 minutes, and SQ3 being just eight minutes. Teams must have a new set of medium tyres for SQ1 and SQ2 but can use old tyres for SQ3.