Sprint races to be held before main qualifying from next year

Formula 1 has announced that Sprint races will be held before main qualifying session from next year onwards.

The proposition was approved during FIA’s official meeting on Friday.

“The commission gave overall support for an update to the sprint format for 2024,” the FIA said in a statement. “A final proposal will be presented to the F1 commission for the first meeting of 2024.”

This year qualifying for the main event was held on Fridays, while Sprint shootout, which determines the grid for the Sprint race was held on Saturdays.

That has become an issue for many teams as they have complained there is too much of a gap between quali on Friday and the race on Sunday.

Under the new format, the sprint shootout would instead take place on Friday with the sprint race then held on Saturday, followed by the main qualifying later that day.