During the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, Formula One will introduce some intriguing changes to the sprint race format. The changes have been agreed upon by the F1 teams after much back-and-forth, and they promise to make the races even more thrilling for viewers around the globe. The key modification is that Saturday morning's second practice session will now serve as a second qualifying session to determine the starting order for the sprint race later that day. Since the result of the F1 Sprint no longer affects Sunday's starting lineup, it has practically become its own race this season. Back in 2021, when F1 Sprint first debuted, the schedule called for qualifying to be moved to Friday, establishing the grid for a new 100km sprint on Saturday, the results of which then decided the starting order for the main race on Sunday.
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2023 F1 Season: New Sprint Format
Like an F1 qualifying session, the Sprint Shootout will be divided into three segments, however, the last eight minutes might include one-lap races to determine the top 10. In ordinary qualifying, teams may use whatever tyres they choose, but in the Sprint Shootout, teams must use brand-new pairs of tyres for each of the three rounds. The first two rounds use medium-compound tyres, while the third round uses soft tyres. The point system will remain unchanged. Eight points will be awarded to the Sprint winner, with one less point awarded to each of the next eight finishers.
As a result of the rule changes, teams will no longer be permitted to make any adjustments to their cars' setups after Friday's qualifying, hence the Saturday morning practice session will no longer happen. There will only be one 60-minute practice session on Friday for teams and drivers to figure out their cars' settings for the rest of the weekend. It is hoped that drivers would be more willing to take chances on a Saturday now that the Sprint competition is no longer used to determine the starting order for the race on Sunday, when the most points are up for grabs.
2023 F1 Season: Grid Penalties During New Sprint Format
It has also been made clear that violations committed during Friday's practice or qualifying will result in race day grid penalties, while violations committed during the Sprint Shootout will result in Sprint day penalties.
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If an incident occurs during the Sprint, the grid penalty will carry over to the Race on Sunday, and if parc ferme is broken, the driver will have to start from the pits for both events. Penalties for violating power unit restrictions on the starting grid will only affect the race itself unless their installation also constitutes a parc ferme violation.
For the 2023 season, the F1 Commission upped the maximum number of power unit components any team may utilise from three to four. With the addition of the ICE, turbocharger, MGU-H, and MGU-K, each driver now has access to more power units than before.
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