Part-reversed grids possible for F1 sprints, 2024 venues named

Reversing part of the grid for Formula 1’s sprint races is still under discussion for the six events that will be held next year.

F1 has confirmed that the six sprint venues in 2024 will be China, Miami, Austria, Austin, Brazil and Qatar.

There are set to be changes to how the sprint weekends unfold, although the extent of that is still to be established.

“We must continuously develop and adapt to ensure we are doing what is best for the sport, and as such we are working with FOM and the teams to define the future direction of the Sprint format,” said FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem in the announcement.

As previously reported, the intention is to move away from the weekend format introduced this season which placed qualifying for the grand prix on Friday, qualifying for the sprint race and the sprint itself on Saturday, and the grand prix on Sunday.

What is set to happen in 2024 is that qualifying for the sprint will move to Friday, so the traditional ‘practice day’ still includes a more competitive session, with the sprint race becoming Saturday’s first on-track action before qualifying for the grand prix takes place later in the day.

The idea, which had the overall support of teams and is set to be formally proposed to the F1 Commission for approval in January, intends to improve the flow of the weekend.

It could yet be augmented by further changes including a reversed-grid element, which is one of two directions F1 could go in.

Partially reversing the order from sprint qualifying to set the grid for the sprint would be a massive move for F1 even if it is only for the sprint rather than the grand prix.

There have long been concerns that using a qualifying session to establish the reversed grid would lead to teams either deliberately not trying at all, or gaming the session in another way, to get a better grid position.

Discussions are ongoing about the best way to partially reverse the grid for the sprint, to avoid anything inadvertently problematic, and the most logical outcome at this stage would appear to be a tweak to the way points are awarded.

For instance, allocating points to the quickest drivers in sprint qualifying and only reversing part of the grid would incentivise teams to make a real effort because there would be a tangible reward for doing well, and there would still be a realistic chance of recovering well in the sprint race if only a certain number of positions would be reversed.

While there would still be a question mark over how incentivised the slower teams would be, this format would offer the chance of sneaking into the positions that get reversed. Or if a team had a Haas-like problem in 2023 of having a good qualifying car but weak race car, it may present the opportunity to score qualifying points even if the race would inevitably end up more challenging.

The alternative is for F1 to avoid a radical change and keep the format largely the same except for…