Mohammed ben Sulayem, the ruler of world motorsport, has given his crucial backing to the radical reform of Formula One’s race weekend schedule. Under the proposals drawn up by F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali, the six already designated ‘sprint race’ weekends will pan out like this: Friday – one practice session followed by qualifying for Sunday’s grand prix. It will start with qualifying to determine the starting order for the sprint race, which will then take place over one-third of the grand-prix distance that afternoon; Sunday will remain as it is now with the grand prix itself. Sprint qualifying will be staged across three sessions of 12, 10 and eight minutes. Non-sprint weekends will continue as they are – three practice sessions, qualifying and grand prix.

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