Formula 1 have agreed to change the protocols for their sprint race weekends in 2024, a move which will impact two American races.
The weekends will now feature practice and sprint qualifying on a Friday, an action-packed Saturday with both the sprint race and qualifying for the feature race, before the main event on a Sunday.
This new format has been deliberated upon at great length, following huge criticism about the way in which the weekends were able to operate in 2023.
With just one practice session on a Friday before qualifying for the main race, drivers who encountered problems on a Friday were often out of position for Sunday's race.
As well as this, there was the opposite problem of team's treating Saturday's sprint as a completely separate entity, and often sacrificing it in the hope of gaining better data for Sunday's main race.
The scramble into the first corner is something that F1 fans get to see twice during sprint weekendsDavid Croft has his own plan for F1's sprint weekends
F1 sprint weekend changes
With there being six sprint events in the mammoth 2024 season, the F1 commission have acted to hopefully improve the spectacle for both fans and the teams.
While there has been no indication as of yet as to whether the points distribution will be changed in order to make a Saturday more competitive during sprint weekends, this format change is certainly a step in the right direction.
Drivers and pundits seemingly have lots of different views about how sprint races can be improved, with Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft even suggesting recently that a separate world championship should be considered for sprint events.
🚨 | BREAKING: FIA confirm 2024 Sprint Format
FRI: Practice 1, Sprint qualifying SAT: Sprint race, Grand Prix qualifying SUN: Grand Prix
GP AUSTRALIA
22 - 24 Mar
GP JAPAN
5 - 7 Apr
GP CHINA
19 - 21 Apr
GP USA
3 - 5 May
GP ITALY
17 - 19 May
GP MONACO
24 - 26 May
GP CANADA
7 - 9 Jun
GP SPAIN
21 - 23 Jun
GP AUSTRIA
28 - 30 Jun
GP GREAT BRITAIN
5 - 7 Jul
GP HUNGARY
19 - 21 Jul
GP BELGIUM
26 - 28 Jul
GP NETHERLANDS
23 - 25 Aug
GP AZERBAIJAN
13 - 15 Sep
GP SINGAPORE
20 - 22 Sep
GP MEXICO
25 - 27 Oct
GP BRAZIL
1 - 3 Nov
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Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024 
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024 
Qatar Grand Prix 2024 
Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024 
Innovatieweg 20C