Formula One: Miami and Shanghai to host F1 sprint races for the first time in 2024

AP , Tuesday 5 Dec 2023

Miami and Shanghai will host their first Formula One sprint races next season as two of the six sprints on the calendar take place in the United States.

Red Bull Racing's Dutch driver Max Verstappen performs a burnout after winning the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in the Emirati city on November 26, 2023. Photo: AFP

The calendar published Tuesday includes the first sprint race of the season in April at the Chinese Grand Prix, which is back on the F1 schedule for the first time since 2019 after being canceled for four years running amid the coronavirus pandemic.

There is also a sprint race scheduled for May at the Miami Grand Prix, which will be in its third year in F1.

The United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, in October, gets a sprint race for the second year running. Austria, Brazil, and Qatar are also returning hosts for sprint races.

Exactly where the sprint races will fit into each race weekend next season is unclear amid a push to change the arrangement used in 2023, after it prompted calls for a clearer split between sprint and Grand Prix sessions.

This year’s schedules saw qualifying for the main Grand Prix race held on Friday, before a second “shootout” qualifying session and sprint race on Saturday, and then the Grand Prix on Sunday. A new proposal would see the sprints held early on Saturday, with the main qualifying session later that day.

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