Formula One race weekend
A Formula One race weekend is an auto racing event which takes place over three days, with a series of practice and qualifying sessions prior to the race on Sunday. Current regulations provide for two free practice sessions on Friday, a morning practice session and an afternoon qualifying session held on Saturday, and the race held on Sunday afternoon or evening, although the structure of the weekend has changed numerous times over the history of the sport. Historically, the Monaco Grand Prix held practice on Thursday rather than Friday, and the whole schedule for the Las Vegas, Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix is brought forward by one day. At most Formula One race weekends, other events such as races in other Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile series, such as Formula 2 or Formula 3, are held.
Free practice
Since 2006, three free practice sessions are held before the race. The first is typically held on Friday morning and the second on Friday afternoon, while the third session is typically on Saturday morning. From, all sessions last for one hour; prior to this, the Friday sessions were 90 minutes in length and the Saturday session was one hour in length. In addition in 2021, cars are now put under parc fermé conditions after the third practice session instead of qualifying. Private tests are now heavily restricted, but a third driver is permitted to take part in the first Friday free practice session in the place of a regular driver. The second practice session for the Bahrain, Singapore and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix takes place in the evening, as these races are run at night. All practice sessions for the Las Vegas Grand Prix were held at night, with the first two on Thursday, the third and qualifying on Friday and the race held on Saturday.Qualifying
Formula 1 qualifying takes place before each race to decide the starting grid order. The driver who sets the fastest lap starts from pole position at the front of the grid, while slower lap times line up progressively behind. Any drivers unable to set a qualifying time, for mechanical, weather, or penalty-related reasons, are placed at the back of the grid.Historical methods
Traditionally before, qualifying was split into two one-hour sessions; the first was held on Friday afternoon from 13:00 to 14:00 local time, with the second held on Saturday afternoon at the same time. The fastest time set by each driver from either session counted towards their final grid position. Each driver was limited to twelve laps per session.In 1996, qualifying was amended with the Friday qualifying session abolished in a favour for a single qualifying session held on Saturday afternoon. Each driver was limited to twelve laps with the inclusion of a 107% rule to exclude drivers with slow lap times. This was calculated by using the time of the driver on pole position and adding on 7% to create a cut-off time. This format remained until the conclusion of the 2002 season. Between and, the qualifying session was run as a one-lap session and took place on Friday and Saturday afternoon with the cars running one at a time, immediately returning to the pits through the pit exit after completing their laps. In 2003, the Friday running order was determined with the leader of the Drivers' Championship heading out first. The Saturday running order was determined by times set in Friday afternoon qualifying with the fastest heading out last and the slowest running first. No refuelling was allowed between the start of Saturday qualifying and the start of the race, so drivers qualified on race fuel. The lap times from the Friday afternoon session did not determine the grid order.
In 2004, the Friday session was moved to Saturday. The running order for the first session was now based on the result of the previous race. At first both sessions were held back-to-back, but the first session was later moved earlier in the day. At the start of 2005, the sessions were held on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. Lap times from both sessions were counted to give the overall aggregate position. From the 2005 European Grand Prix onwards, the Sunday morning session was dropped for a single run on Saturday afternoon having proved unpopular with drivers, teams and broadcasters. The running order was the reverse of the previous race result.
Current format
Since, qualifying takes place on Saturday afternoon in a three-stage "knockout" system. One hour is dedicated to determining the grid order, divided into three periods with short intermissions between them. Since 2010, the first qualifying period is eighteen minutes long, with all twenty cars competing. At the end of Q1, the five slowest drivers are eliminated from further qualification rounds, and fill positions sixteen to twenty on the grid based on their fastest lap time. Any driver attempting to set a qualifying time when the period ends is permitted to finish their lap, though no new laps may be started once the chequered flag is shown. After a short break, the second period begins, with fifteen cars on the circuit. At the end of Q2, the five slowest drivers are once again eliminated, filling grid positions eleven to fifteen. Finally, the third qualifying period features the ten fastest drivers from the second period. The drivers are issued a new set of soft tyres and have twelve minutes to set a qualifying time, which will determine the top ten positions on the grid. The driver who sets the fastest qualifying time is said to be on pole position, the grid position that offers the best physical position from which to start the race.Drivers may complete as many laps as they choose within the permitted qualifying session's time. As of the 2022 season, all drivers are permitted to start the race on the tyre of their choice regardless of their grid position, whereas previously it was required for the drivers starting in the top 10 grid positions to start on the same tyre as the one that they set their fastest lap time within the second qualifying session. Generally, a driver will leave the pits and drive around the track in order to get to the start/finish line. Having crossed the line, they will attempt to achieve the quickest time around the circuit that they can in one or more laps. This is the lap time which is used in calculating grid position. Finally, the driver will continue back around the track and re-enter the pit lane ; however, this is merely strategy, and no teams are obliged by the rules to follow this formula, as drivers may elect to set several flying laps before returning to the pits. For the first two races of the 2016 season, a modified format was used where drivers were eliminated during the sessions rather than just at the end and only eight drivers progressed to the final session. Qualifying reverted to the previous format from the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix onwards.
Sprint qualifying
Following the decision to make [|sprints] standalone from 2023 onwards, sprints were given a dedicated qualifying session, dubbed in 2023 "sprint shootout" and "sprint qualifying" in 2024. The format of sprint shootout is the same as qualifying, but with the three segments being shorter at 12 minutes, 10 minutes and 8 minutes, instead of 18, 15 and 12 minutes. Initially, new tyres were mandatory for each phase, with mediums for SQ1 and SQ2, and softs for SQ3. This was changed for the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix to allow teams the ability to use any set of soft tyres, be it new or used, for SQ3, after Lando Norris could not run in SQ3 at the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, after exhausting his allocation of soft tyres.Qualifying requirements
As of, ten teams are entered for the Formula One World Championship, each entering two cars for a total of twenty cars. The regulations place a limit of twenty-six entries for the championship. At some periods in the history of Formula One the number of cars entered for each race has exceeded the number permitted, which historically would vary from race to race according to the circuit used; Monaco, for example, for many years allowed only twenty cars to compete because of the restricted space available. The slowest cars excess to the circuit limit would not qualify for the race and would be listed as 'Did not qualify' in race results.Historical pre-qualifying
There had been pre-qualifying sessions in the late 1970s, but during the late 1980s and early 1990s the number of cars attempting to enter each race was as high as thirty-nine for some races. Because of the dangers of having so many cars on the track at the same time, pre-qualifying sessions were re-introduced for the teams with the worst record over the previous twelve months, including any new teams. Usually, only the four fastest cars from this session were then allowed into the qualifying session proper, where thirty cars competed for twenty-six places on the starting grid for the race. The slowest cars from the pre-qualifying session were listed in race results as 'Did Not Pre-Qualify'. Pre-qualifying was discontinued after the 1992 Hungarian Grand Prix when many small teams withdrew from the sport.107% rule
As the number of cars entered in the world championship fell below twenty-six, a situation arose in which any car entered would automatically qualify for the race, no matter how slowly it had been driven. The 107% rule was introduced in to prevent completely uncompetitive cars being entered in the championship. If a car's qualifying time was not within 107% of the pole sitter's time, that car would not qualify for the race, unless at the discretion of the race stewards for a situation such as a rain-affected qualifying session. For example, if the pole-sitter's time was one minute and forty seconds, any car eligible for racing had to set a time within one minute and forty-seven seconds.The 107% rule was removed in since the FIA's rules indicated previously that 24 cars could take the start of a Formula One race, and a minimum of twenty cars had to enter a race. In, the qualifying procedure changed to a single-lap system, rendering the rule inoperable. However, there were concerns about the pace of the new teams in the 2010 season. As the qualifying procedure had been changed since the 2006 season to a three-part knockout system, the rule could now be reintroduced. As such, the 107% rule was reintroduced in the 2011 Formula One season. Currently, cars eliminated in Q1 have to be within 107% of the fastest Q1 time in order to qualify for the race.
Since the rule was re-introduced, only twice have cars failed to qualify for a Grand Prix – both times involving Hispania Racing cars and both times occurring at the Australian Grand Prix, namely in 2011 and 2012. At their discretion, stewards may permit a driver who fails to set a qualifying time within the desired 107% span to enter the race; for example, at the 2018 British Grand Prix, Lance Stroll and Brendon Hartley both failed to set times within 107%, but were permitted to race on the grounds of satisfactory lap times in free practice. After eleven drivers failed to set satisfactory Q1 times at the 2016 Hungarian Grand Prix due to inclement weather, the regulations were amended in 2018 so that wet sessions were not subject to the 107% rule.