Official: F1 to trial new race weekend format in Baku as teams reach agreement 

F1 is all set to trial a new race weekend format in Baku as teams reach an agreement. The sprint race in Azerbaijan will now see an additional qualifying session that will replace Saturday's FP2.

It was confirmed before the Australian GP that discussions were underway to modify the schedule for the upcoming Baku event, which marks the first Sprint race weekend of the season.

Currently, the Sprint weekend follows a specific format, where FP1 and qualifying are held on Friday, followed by FP2 and the Sprint on Saturday, and the Grand Prix on Sunday.

As per the new proposal, the existing FP2 session on Saturday morning will be replaced with a new qualifying session for the Sprint, while qualifying for the main race will take place on Friday.

The proposal's secondary objective is to eliminate the redundant FP2 session on Saturday morning, where F1 teams are currently limited in their ability to make changes to their cars due to the Parc Ferme restrictions imposed after Friday afternoon's qualifying.

As per reports, all ten F1 team bosses met ahead of the Australian GP on Sunday to discuss this potential schedule change. As per the new plan, Saturday will see a new qualifying that will adhere to the same format of a three-round elimination.

F1 to test new qualifying format in 2023

To combat wastage, F1 has opted to experiment with a new qualifying format during two race weekends in 2023. The revised system reduces the allotment of slick tires from 13 to 11 for each driver.

The Emilia Romagna GP will be the inaugural location to test this fresh approach, as the current qualifying structure has been an immense success since its creation in 2006.

With two sets of tires being removed from the pool, racers will have to be extra cautious with their tires during the qualifying rounds, ushering in an unprecedented strategic element.

The tire compounds available for use include four soft, three hard, and four medium compounds. During Q1, hard tires will be the only option for drivers, followed by medium tires in Q2, and soft tires in Q3.

The sport is yet to announce the second venue to test this new qualifying format. Speaking on the new F1 qualifying system with GPBlog, Pirelli's motorsport manager Mario Isola said:

"On those race weekends, the number of slicks available to drivers will be 11 instead of 13. With this alternative tyre selection, we will have the hard tyre for Q1, the medium tyre for Q2 and the soft tyre for Q3, with two sets of each tyre. In qualifying, conditions will then be the same for everyone.''