First draft of the Sprint calendar for the 2023 F1 season

A first list of destinations which will host a Sprint event in 2023 has been circulated in Abu Dhabi. As a reminder, these 100 km races without mandatory pit stops were introduced last year in order to boost the weekend format. F1.

The result of these Sprints, organized on Saturday with qualifying advanced to Friday, then determines the grid for the GP contested on Sunday. Points are also awarded to the first 8 of these condensed rounds. Next year, the number of Sprints will double from three to six.

The first is set to take place on the busy streets of Baku ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The second will be contested at Red Bull Ring (Austria), which had already hosted a Sprint last summer. The following three stages – Belgium, Qatar, and USA – are new. As in the last two seasons, the last Sprint will be held in São Paulo (Brazil), which has easily established itself as the most suitable circuit for the format so far.

Ross Brawn, sporting director of F1, also affirmed at Interlagos that the choice of the six Sprint 2023 destinations would be made mainly on the overtaking possibilities offered by the different tracks. Unless there are any last minute changes, the Sprints calendar should therefore look like the list below:

Baku – Azerbaijan Grand Prix (April 28-30)
Red Bull Ring – Austrian Grand Prix (June 30-July 2)
Spa-Francorchamps – Belgian Grand Prix (July 28-30)
Losail – Qatar Grand Prix (October 6-8)
Austin – United States Grand Prix (October 20-22)
Interlagos - Brazilian Grand Prix (November 3-5)

Brazilian Grand Prix – The video summary of the Sprint Race