All bar one of the six venues which are holding sprint events this year will do so again next season.
Formula 1 has confirmed the Red Bull Ring, which held its third consecutive sprint event this year, will not do so in 2025. Spa-Francorchamps will become a sprint event again, having previously held one last year.
The other five venues are unchanged from this year. Interlagos, which has held a sprint race every year since the format’s introduction in 2021, will continue to do so. Shanghai International Circuit in China, Losail International Circuit in Qatar, Miami International Autodrome and Circuit of the Americas in the USA will hold the rest.
The arrangement means half of the last six rounds on the 2025 F1 calendar will be sprint events. Last year the drivers’ championship was decided in the sprint race at Losail, before a crowd of just 38,000 on Saturday.
F1 introduced sprint races in 2021, when just three were held, offering up to three points to the winner. The value of a win was increased to eight points the following year and the number of sprint events rose to six last season.
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said earlier this year he wants to increase the number of sprint rounds. However the format continues to divide opinion among fans, drivers and even race promoters.
Miami Grand Prix president Tyler Epp said the sprint event format brings “tremendous excitement and added energy to the race track” after holding it for the first time this year. But Canadian Grand Prix promoter Francois Dumontier claimed sprint races offer poor value for fans and isn’t worth the extra $4 million F1 charges for the format.
F1 has changed the sprint weekend format every year since it was introduced but no further alterations have been announced for 2025.
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Formula 1
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