Agreement over new F1 sprint format - what happens next?

It emerged at last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix that F1 and the FIA had proposed an overhaul to the sprint format to be implemented in time for the next race in Azerbaijan. 

Ahead of Sunday’s race in Melbourne, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali met with team bosses who gave initial support to the plan, it has been reported by several outlets. 

What happens next?

The matter will now go forward for further discussions at the next meeting of the F1 Commission, where the 10 teams, the FIA, and F1 bosses will all take part in a formal vote, where an overwhelming majority of at least 28 out of 30 votes is required.

Finally, the FIA's World Motor Sport Council would need to green-light the new format for it to be rubber-stamped in time for the fourth round of the season on April 30. 

There are still several details that need to be ironed out, including potential issues relating to tyre allocation and how parc ferme rules would be applied.

How the new format would work 

The basic plan centres around adding a second, separate qualifying session to make the sprint race itself a standalone event. 

Saturday morning’s second practice session would be replaced by a new qualifying session exclusively for the sprint. 

Qualifying to determine the grid for Sunday’s grand prix would take place on Friday afternoon, following a single hour of practice. 

The second qualifying session would replace FP2 on Saturday morning and be used to set the grid for the sprint later in the afternoon. 

Under the current format, the results of the sprint race determine the starting order for the grand prix on Sunday.

A return to one-lap qualifying was proposed as a potential option for the sprint qualifying session, but the idea has now been abandoned.