Yahoo Autos 2 U.S. F1 Grand Prix Stops to Get Bonus Race Action in 2024
Formula 1 will be spicing up six Grand Prix weekends in 2024 with F1 Sprint races, and two of those bonus race weekends will be in the United States.
On Tuesday, Formula 1 announced that the Saturday Sprint format will be coming to China, Miami, Austria, Austin, Brazil and Qatar next season.
The Sprint races are approximately 30-minutes in duration (roughly one-third length of a full Sunday Grand Prix), and it is a points-awarding affair that replaces a traditional practice session.
The starting order for Sprint is a special Sprint qualifying session earlier in the day on Saturday. The qualifying order for Sunday's Grand Prix is determined in a qualifying session on Friday of race weekend. Sprint in effect replaces a second free practice session on the weekend schedule.
As incentive for the drivers and teams to actually race hard in the Sprint, Drivers' Championship points are awarded to the top-eight finishers of Sprint on a 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
The Sprint format has been a hit with TV audiences. According to F1 and Nielsen, world-wide TV ratings for the 2023 Sprint Race at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, were up 139% over the previous year's second practice session at the venue.
"I am delighted to announce six exciting venues for next season’s F1 Sprint events, including two new hosts China and Miami, both of which will be fantastic additions and provide great racing for all our fans at the race and watching at home," said F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali in a press statement. "Since its creation in 2021, the Sprint has been consistent in delivering increased audiences on TV, more on track entertainment for the fans at events and increased fanengagement on social and digital platforms, and we are looking forward to the exciting events next year."
2023 F1 Sprint Weekends
April 19-21 - Shanghai, China
May 3-5 - Miami
June 28-30- Spielberg, Austria
Oct. 18-20 - Austin, Texas
Nov. 1-3 - Sao Paulo, Brazil
Nov. 29-Dec. 1 - Lusail, Qatar
