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F1 authorities approved an updated race weekend style for the Sprint race weekend in Baku ahead of the 2023 F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
After a month's break, F1 will be back racing in Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, however, quite a few things will be different this year. On account of having six Sprint races this season, the track will witness its first sprint race weekend. Adding to that, after much speculation and discussion, an updated Grand Prix weekend format will be brought into use.
Updated weekend format for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix:
- Friday - Free Practice and Qualifying (Main race)
- Saturday - Qualifying (for Sprint) and Sprint Race
- Sunday - Main race
There had been a discussion of getting rid of the three free practice sessions that the teams are given each weekend as it consumes a lot of time and not many people take an interest in watching them. F1 CEO Stefano Domencali was adamant about this idea, while other drivers like George Russell agreed with him.
This particular format for the weekend was earlier approved by a few teams on the grid, which has now been finalized and will be used. Depending on the response and outcome of this format in Baku, there is a chance that this might become the standard Sprint race weekend later.
Drivers will have less qualifying time for F1 Sprint weekends
As mentioned, the weekend will see two qualifying sessions, one for the Sprint and another for the main race. However, the Sprint race qualifying format will not have the same session time as the main race weekend. A usual Grand Prix weekend has a qualifying session divided into three parts; Q1 (18 minutes), Q2 (15 minutes), and Q3 (12 minutes).
However, for the F1 Sprint qualifying, the timings are shortened by much. It is as follows:
- Q1 - 12 Minutes
- Q2 - 10 Minutes
- Q3 - 8 Minutes
Drivers will have much less time to get on the track and set their laptime. It is quite a possibility that they won't get enough laps to set in and at the same time, they could face issues with other drivers blocking their way, and hence ruining their laptime, but it could turn out to be interesting.
The Sprint race results will not determine the starting grid position for the main race, as it used to be, because there will be a completely different qualifying session for that. At the same time, however, the same number of points will be awarded to drivers in the Sprint race as last year: 8 for P1 and 1 for P8.
