China will host the first sprint race of the 2025 season next weekend. The format of weekends with a Sprint is different from what people were used to from this season onwards. This is different in Shanghai for Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and consorts.

Partly at the request of the teams - who found the format of a sprint weekend illogical - changes have been made by the FIA. Last season, qualifying for the sprint race, called Sprint Shoot Out, was held on the Saturday morning. That will now be as early as Friday, after the first and only free practice session. The sprint race will open Saturday, followed by qualifying for Sunday's Grand Prix.

Also different are the rules for parc fermé. Until this season, nothing was allowed to change F1 cars after the first free practice. From next weekend China, this has changed. Only after qualifying for the Grand Prix - which is therefore on Saturday - nothing more may be changed. This allows drivers to compete in the sprint race and the Grand Prix with different set-ups.

This is how the sprint weekend is structured

Friday
First free practice
Qualifying sprint race

Saturday
Sprint race
Qualifying for the Grand Prix

Sunday
Grand Prix