F1 Sprints in a new form again this year! What does this year’s schedule look like and where will the sprints be held?

The F1 committee met in early February and approved a number of changes. Including a new schedule for the sprint weekends. At the same time, the queen of motorsport released specific times for all 120 practice sessions during the grand prix a few days ago. Now we are just waiting for the World Motor Sport Council to give its approval. It will meet on Wednesday 28 February.

It’s all down to the “parc fermé”

The format of the sprint weekends has changed several times since its introduction in 2021. The latest change responds to complaints from teams last year. Back then the format proved unsuitable due to the “parc fermé” regime.

For the less initiated fans – parc fermé translates from French as “closed parking lot”. It’s a fenced area where the drivers take their monoblocs for inspection after qualifying and the race. And team members are not allowed to touch them during that time. Except under the strict supervision of the sports commissioners.

At the same time, the parc fermé is a kind of special mode that is related to the set-up for qualifying and the race. The only exceptions are minor interventions such as changing tyres, refuelling, bleeding the brakes or adjusting the front wing more appropriately.

Any major changes are heavily penalised by the commissioners. Most importantly, however, this special regime is in place from the moment the formulae leave the pits for qualifying and lasts until the main race.

And this was a major issue during the sprint weekends. As the stables had to set up their cars for Sunday’s race after Friday practice. Therefore, if it became clear during the Saturday sessions that they had chosen the wrong car set-up for the upcoming day, breaking the parc fermé mode was the only way to avoid losing the main race.

The French Alpine was the first to pay the price on its debut in Baku. Back then its mechanics made changes to the suspension on Ocon’s A523 during parc fermé.

Half a year later, four drivers started from pit lane at the Circuit of the Americas. Namely, Kevin Magnussen, Nico Hülkenberg, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. This was because Haas and Aston Martin installed new components on their cars during the banned period.

But criticism for this ill-conceived move was heaped on F1 management from all sides, including the boss of the most successful stable, Christian Horner.

This year’s F1 sprint schedule

In the current format of the sprint weekends, the shootout will return to Friday, where it will follow free practice. The sprint itself has been moved to Saturday morning. This will precede qualifying, which will determine the grid position for Sunday’s (main) race.

While the new format makes sense, the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile has not indicated whether the parc fermé mode will be interrupted between the sprint and qualifying.

When and where will the sprints take place this year?

So we don’t know what will happen with the parc fermé mode. But we do know the very specific schedule of the sprint weekends (see details below). In the brackets after each Grand Prix is the start of the sprint shootout/sprint. Both data are then valid for Central European Time.

*Although the sprint shoots will be held on Friday and the sprints themselves on Saturday, there is a time zone shift for both US races. This means that the first figure is for Saturday and the second for Sunday.

Source: F1, Motorsport.com