The teams, along with Formula One Management and the governing FIA, have reached an agreement to reorganize the sessions on F1 sprint weekends in a tabloid format. Instead of the previous schedule, which included qualifying for the grand prix on Friday and sprint qualifying and a standalone race on Saturday, the new format will consist of one free practice session on Friday, followed by a sprint qualifying ‘shootout’. On Saturday morning, a 100km race will take place before the qualifying for the main Sunday grand prix. These changes will be presented to the FIA’s World Motorsport Council for formal approval on February 28. The upcoming 24-race F1 season, starting in Bahrain on March 2, will feature six scheduled sprint weekends. The sprint format will be implemented in China, Miami, Austria, the United States (Austin), Sao Paulo, and Qatar in 2024.
In addition to the changes in the sprint format, the Commission has also agreed to increase the power unit allocation to four per driver for the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Furthermore, the activation of the drag reduction system (DRS) for the race will now occur one lap after the start, rather than two. These decisions were made during a meeting in London, and the report was contributed by Alan Baldwin, with additional reporting by GrandPrix247.