Miami and China join sprint race roster for F1 2024

While discussions between teams and series bosses about an overhaul of the sprint format for next year are ongoing, FOM has finalised the location of the six events that will take place next season.

While Austria, Circuit of the Americas, Brazil and Qatar already featured on this season's sprint schedule, two of the events have been swapped out.

Baku and Spa will revert to a normal grand prix timetable this year, while the Chinese Grand Prix on 21 April and the Miami GP on 5 May will replace them in hosting their first sprint events.

It is understood the decision to go for China and Miami was prompted by them being the best options for the beginning phase of the campaign.

With Bahrain and Saudi Arabia ruled out for being too early in the season, some consideration was given for a sprint in Australia but the timezone difference meant track action would not take place at a suitable time for European audiences.

Instead, China and Miami both offer good overtaking opportunities which makes them decent options for the early season sprints.

Speaking earlier this year, Miami GP president Tyler Epp said his event was not actively chasing a sprint, but was happy to adopt it if F1 felt it would work.

"We're always interested in the sprint race," he said. "But I will also tell you that quali is really valuable for us, right? Like we see a lot of value in the qualification experience in F1.

"I think there's a tonne of our fans that have given us great feedback about traditional qualifying. But we're here to support [F1] and if we have an opportunity to host a sprint race at some point, we welcome that."

Following the announcement, he said: “We’re delighted to be one of the host venues for the F1 Sprint in 2024 and we’re looking forward to an incredible action-packed weekend as we host our third race next year.

“The addition of the F1 Sprint along with the support races of F1 Academy and Deluxe Porsche Carrera Cup North America will guarantee three days of competitive on-track racing action that will bring more entertainment to our fans.”

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB15, leads Pierre Gasly, Red Bull Racing RB15

F1 teams are set to be given proposals about a revamp of the sprint format in January, as efforts are ongoing to finalise potential rule changes.

It is thought extremely likely that the current sprint weekend timetable will be overhauled. That means sprint qualifying returning to Friday afternoons, with Saturdays then featuring qualifying for the grand prix as well as the sprint race.

One possibility is that the sprint race could take place early on Saturday, with qualifying following later in the day. However, such an idea has brought some scepticism from teams about the implications of accident damage in the sprint risking a bigger impact on qualifying for the main race.

Other ideas being discussed are a revamp of the parc ferme rules, amid a widespread feeling that teams get locked in too early to car settings on a sprint weekend.

Furthermore, evaluation is being done about using a reverse grid format for the sprint race – either for the entire field or the top ten based on sprint qualifying.

However, F1 would need to find a way to encourage drivers to deliver their best in qualifying rather than deliberately going slow to secure pole for the sprint.