The F1 sprint: All you need to know

F1 sprint races see drivers compete over the shortened distance of 100km - taking roughly half an hour - without any mandatory pit stops for teams to undertake, leading to a focus on speed over strategy.

The top eight drivers score points that count towards their tallies in the driver's standings, with the winner claiming eight points and eighth place notching one - and these points are also added onto the team's overall totals in the Constructors' Championship.

The sprint could make all the difference in a tight season, and brings drama, excitement and an extra bit of bite to an already competitive grid - as the likes of Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen fight for every point towards that coveted World Championship trophy.

On a typical Formula One weekend, three practice sessions will be followed by qualifying before the race takes centre stage, but the sprint brings with it a change of routine for drivers, teams and pit crews alike.

Free practice sessions two and three are scrapped from the calendar on an F1 sprint weekend, with FP2 becoming sprint qualifying, and FP3 becoming the sprint race itself - before qualifying for Sunday's main Grand Prix event gets underway as usual later that day.

Sprint qualifying follows the same structure as regular F1 qualifying, with three sections determining the grid for the start of the race. SQ1 sees five drivers eliminated, while another five follow in SQ2, leaving ten drivers to battle it out in SQ3 and fight for the front row on Saturday's sprint grid.

In short, it doesn't. The main impact of the sprint on the GP weekend is the change in structure, with two Free Practice sessions being replaced by F1 sprint action.

The sprint has no bearing on the grid for the main Grand Prix, and with the car setup being limited by Parc Ferme rules earlier than usual, a team's setup will typically locked in from Friday evening.

No major changes are allowed after sprint qualifying - which comes after the sole free practice session - so teams have much less opportunity to get to grips with the circuit, meaning for added drama and entertainment for the watching fans. The Sprint does allow for new drivers to taste success, however, and the exciting format features in our F1 predictions for the remainder of the 2025 season.

The sprint was introduced to the F1 calendar back in 2021, starting with just three races across the year, and has continued to evolve since its inception - with six sprint races to enjoy in the 2025 season.

With the Chinese Grand Prix, the Miami Grand Prix, the Belgian Grand Prix and the US Grand Prix already having hosted a sprint race, the torch was passed to Sao Paulo for the next, before Lusail (Qatar) hosted the final sprint of the 2025 season.

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