Your F1 Sprint refresher for 2026

Check out our handy F1 Sprint guide ahead of its 2026 return

Published

11 MAR 2026

Est. reading time

3 min

F1 Sprint weekends are back for 2026, with new locations and a slightly adjusted format for the new season.

Here’s our handy guide to get you up to speed on all things F1 Sprint in the 2026 season.

What is an F1 Sprint?

An F1 Sprint is a shorter race with its own qualifying format that precedes Sunday’s feature-length Grand Prix.

A Sprint race is run over 100km, roughly a third of the distance of a full Grand Prix, and lasts around 30 minutes.

The grid for the F1 Sprint is decided by a condensed qualifying session known as Sprint qualifying, which consists of a 12-minute SQ1, 10-minute SQ2 and an 8-minute SQ3.

In SQ1 and SQ2, teams are mandated to run the medium tyre compound, whilst in SQ3 teams must run the soft compound – unless, of course, the circuit has been declared wet.

In effect, this means that on an F1 Sprint weekend, fans are treated to two races and two qualifying formats, as opposed to just one of each.

There are no mandatory pit stops in an F1 Sprint, so it’s a flat-out blast to the chequered flag. Drivers can score points in an F1 Sprint in addition to what they earn in the regular Grand Prix.

How many F1 Sprint weekends are there?

There are six F1 Sprint weekends dotted throughout the 24-race calendar. This is the same number as we have had over the past four seasons.

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When and where are the F1 Sprint weekends taking place?

Three new locations will host Sprint weekends in 2026, with Canada, Zandvoort and Singapore all joining the running order. Meanwhile, Silverstone – the venue for the first-ever Sprint in 2021 – also gets the format back this season.

The full list is below:

China – 13-15 March

Miami – 01-03 May

Canada – 22-24 May

Great Britain – 03-05 July

Zandvoort – 21-23 August

Singapore – 09-11 October

How many points can you score in an F1 Sprint?

The top eight finishers in an F1 Sprint score points, as opposed to the top 10 in Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Setup tweaks

In a typical Grand Prix weekend, the cars enter parc fermé at the end of qualifying, meaning their setup is locked in for the race.

On a Sprint weekend, parc fermé conditions are applied at the end of Sprint qualifying before being lifted after the Sprint race itself. This means teams can use the knowledge gathered to adjust their setups accordingly for the rest of the weekend.

How have Williams fared in F1 Sprint so far?

Carlos Sainz secured our best-ever Sprint finish with a P3 in Austin last year

Since its introduction in 2021, Atlassian Williams F1 Team have secured five top-eight finishes in F1 Sprint.

The first came in Qatar in 2023, where Alex Albon roared through the field from P17 on the grid to finish P7.

Four more came last season. The first arrived in Belgium, where Carlos Sainz finished P6, before the team’s best result in the format to date came in Austin when CS55 crossed the line in P3.

Alex Albon made it a double Sprint points finish that afternoon in Texas with P6, whilst Carlos added a P8 Sprint score in Qatar later in the year.

With six more events ahead of us, we can’t wait to see what Alex and Carlos can achieve in F1 Sprint weekends in 2026.

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