The F1 Sprint is a short 100-kilometre race, about a third of a Grand Prix, run on Saturday at six weekends a season. It awards points to the top eight (8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1, 36 in all), has no mandatory pit stop and does not set Sunday’s grid: its own grid comes from Friday’s Sprint Qualifying, the Grand Prix grid from Saturday’s qualifying.

Updated in October 2026.

At Silverstone, in July 2021, Formula 1 ran a 100-kilometre race on a Saturday for the first time: three points for the winner, and a result that counted as pole for the Grand Prix. Today’s Sprint no longer resembles that race. The winner gets eight points, it no longer sets Sunday’s grid, and it changed its rules and its place in the weekend in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Here is how it works today, how it got here and what it means for teams and sponsors.

The F1 Sprint at a glance

• Distance: 100 kilometres, about a third of a Grand Prix, which is at least 305 (260 in Monaco).
• Points: eight for the winner down to one for eighth place, 36 in all; in the Grand Prix the top ten score, up to 25.
• Grid: set by Friday’s Sprint Qualifying; the Sprint does not affect the Grand Prix grid.
• Tyres: no mandatory pit stop and a free choice of compound, unlike the Grand Prix.
• Calendar: six Sprint weekends in 2026, three of which host a Sprint for the first time (Montréal, Zandvoort, Singapore).
• History: an experiment in 2021, points for eight drivers in 2022, the Sprint Shootout in 2023, Sprint Qualifying since 2024.

What the Sprint is and how it works

The Sprint is a race run on Saturday at Alternative Format weekends, the term the FIA sporting regulations use for Sprint weekends. Its distance is the least number of complete laps that exceeds 100 kilometres, and its maximum duration is one hour, extended to an hour and a half if the race is suspended (FIA). A Grand Prix, by comparison, exceeds 305 kilometres, with the exception of Monaco, where the threshold is 260 (FIA, Wikipedia).

Points go to the top eight: 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1, 36 in all, and they count towards both the drivers’ and the constructors’ championships (Motor Sport Magazine, Formula1.com). In the Grand Prix the top ten score: 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 (Wikipedia, Motor Sport Magazine).

In the Sprint there is no mandatory pit stop and the choice of compound is free, whereas in the Grand Prix every driver must use at least two different specifications of dry-weather tyres (FIA, McLaren). The Sprint result does not decide Sunday’s grid, which depends only on Grand Prix qualifying (FIA).

The Sprint weekend in 2026

A standard weekend has three free practice sessions. At the six Sprint weekends the programme changes (FIA, Formula1.com):

• Friday: a single one-hour free practice session (FP1) and Sprint Qualifying, which sets the Sprint grid.
• Saturday: the Sprint, then Grand Prix qualifying, which takes place between three and four hours after the end of the Sprint.
• Sunday: the Grand Prix.

Sprint Qualifying has three parts: SQ1 of 12 minutes, SQ2 of 10 and SQ3 of 8, with seven-minute breaks. With 22 cars on the grid the six slowest are eliminated in SQ1 and another six in SQ2, and SQ3 decides the top ten positions (FIA). The mandatory tyres are the mediums in SQ1 and SQ2 and the softs in SQ3 (McLaren, Sky Sports). For Grand Prix qualifying, with Q1, Q2 and Q3, there is the guide to how F1 qualifying works.

Then there is parc fermé, the regime that forbids changes to the car’s set-up. At Sprint weekends there are two periods: the first starts when a car leaves the pit lane for the first time in Sprint Qualifying and lasts until the start of the Sprint; the second begins when it leaves the pit lane in Grand Prix qualifying and lasts until the race (FIA). In between, teams can work on the set-up.

According to Formula1.com and the FIA there are six Sprint weekends in 2026: Shanghai (13-15 March), Miami (1-3 May), Montréal (22-24 May), Silverstone (3-5 July), Zandvoort (21-23 August) and Singapore (9-11 October). Montréal, Zandvoort and Singapore host a Sprint for the first time, while Silverstone, where it all began in 2021, returns to the Sprint calendar for the first time since (Formula1.com, FIA).

How the Sprint has changed, year by year

2021: the experiment

The Sprint began as an experiment at three Grands Prix: Great Britain (Silverstone), Italy (Monza) and São Paulo (Interlagos) (Wikipedia, Motor Sport Magazine). The race was 100 kilometres long, awarded points to the top three (3, 2 and 1) and its result set the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix. Pole position went to the winner of the Sprint, not to the driver who had set the best time in Friday’s qualifying (Wikipedia, ESPN).

2022: eight drivers score

In 2022 there are still three Sprints: Emilia-Romagna (Imola), Austria and São Paulo. Points now go to the top eight, on the 8-1 scale that still applies today. Pole position changes too: it goes to the driver with the best time in Friday’s qualifying, while the Sprint winner still starts first on Sunday (Wikipedia, ESPN).

2023: the Sprint Shootout and the standalone race

In 2023 the Sprints rise to six: Baku, Spielberg, Spa-Francorchamps, Lusail, Austin and Interlagos (Formula1.com). The novelty is the Sprint Shootout, a dedicated qualifying session held on Saturday before the Sprint. Grand Prix qualifying stays on Friday and the Sprint result no longer sets Sunday’s grid, so an incident in the Sprint does not compromise the whole weekend (Wikipedia, Formula1.com). The Shootout already has the structure that Sprint Qualifying keeps today, with three parts of 12, 10 and 8 minutes (Formula1.com).

2024: Sprint Qualifying and the new order

In 2024 the Shootout becomes Sprint Qualifying and moves to Friday, after free practice; on Saturday the Sprint is run and only then Grand Prix qualifying. There are still six Sprints: China, Miami, Austria, the United States, São Paulo and Qatar (Sky Sports, Williams). The reshuffle has a practical effect: parc fermé goes from a single period, from Friday to the race, to two separate ones, and after the Sprint teams can revise the set-up before Grand Prix qualifying (Sky Sports, Williams, Wikipedia).

2025 and 2026: same scheme, new circuits

The programme introduced in 2024 has stayed the same. In 2025 there were six Sprints, with Belgium replacing Austria compared with 2024: China, Miami, Belgium, the United States, São Paulo and Qatar. In 2026 the calendar changes more, with Montréal, Silverstone, Zandvoort and Singapore replacing Belgium, Austin, São Paulo and Qatar (Motor Sport Magazine, Formula1.com).

Sprint and Grand Prix: the differences

The two races share the track and the cars, but the rules are different (FIA, Wikipedia, Motor Sport Magazine):

• Distance: 100 kilometres against at least 305 (260 in Monaco).
• Maximum duration: one hour against two for the Grand Prix.
• Points: eight drivers score, from 8 to 1, against ten in the Grand Prix, from 25 to 1.
• Tyres: free choice of compound and no mandatory change, against at least two different specifications of dry-weather tyres in the Grand Prix.
• Grid: the Sprint starts in Sprint Qualifying order from Friday, the Grand Prix in the order of Saturday’s qualifying.

What changes for teams and drivers

The first effect is time: at a Sprint weekend there is a single one-hour free practice session instead of three (FIA). Teams reach Sprint Qualifying with one block of data and with the set-up they must, under the rules, keep until the start of the Sprint. This is our reading, not a published figure, but it explains why preparation before the weekend weighs more when there is a Sprint.

The second effect is risk. Since the Sprint stopped setting the Grand Prix grid, a driver can attack without compromising Sunday’s starting position, which depends only on qualifying (FIA, Formula1.com); the possible damage is to the car. With no mandatory stop and a free choice of compound, Sprint strategy comes down to choosing the starting tyre. There are also fewer tyres to go round: as a rule each driver has 12 sets of dry-weather tyres at a Sprint weekend (2 hard, 4 medium and 6 soft), against 13 at a standard weekend (FIA).

Why Sprint weekends matter to sponsors

According to Formula 1, a Sprint weekend has four competitive sessions instead of two. In 2024 television viewing at Sprint weekends was on average 10% higher than at weekends without a Sprint, and in 2025 the Miami Sprint was watched by 26.6 million viewers, 18% more than the year before: these are figures published by Formula 1 (Formula1.com, FIA).

More competitive sessions mean more moments when a brand is on track and on air, but a single sponsor’s visibility depends on where the logo sits and how many races the contract covers: this is our interpretation, not a published figure. To get your bearings there is the guide to the cost of sponsoring a Formula 1 team, the page on Formula 1 sponsorship and the article on sports sponsorship activation. In 2026 the entry threshold we record in F1 is 2 million dollars a year, for at least two seasons and with no single-race contracts (RTR Sports Marketing, survey of September 2026).

Since 2021 the Sprint has changed its points, its name and its place in the weekend, but not the idea of giving every day of a Grand Prix a race that counts. What does change every year is the list of circuits that host it: in 2026 four out of six are new compared with 2025.

Sources: FIA, 2026 Formula 1 sporting regulations (Section B, issue of 1 October 2026); Wikipedia, the Formula One sprint; Wikipedia, the Formula One race weekend; Formula1.com, the 2026 Sprint calendar; FIA, the 2026 Sprint calendar; McLaren, guide to the 2026 Sprint; Sky Sports, the F1 Sprint in 2026; Motor Sport Magazine, the Sprint weekends; Motor Sport Magazine, the F1 points system; Motor Sport Magazine, Silverstone as the first Sprint venue in 2021; ESPN, the 2022 Sprints; Formula1.com, the 2023 Sprint format; Sky Sports, the 2024 Sprint format; Williams, what is new in the 2024 Sprint; RTR Sports Marketing, September 2026 survey of F1 market thresholds.