Formula 1 2026 free practice sessions during a sprint weekend will be extended in the event of a red flag in order to help ensure teams receive enough practice time.
On sprint weekends, teams only get a single one-hour practice session on Friday morning before heading straight into sprint qualifying for the second on-track session later that day.
Until the 2025 season, the session clock would continue running in the event of a red flag, which led to a scenario where a stoppage could significantly impact the ability of drivers and teams to properly prepare for the remainder of the weekend, with the sole FP1 sessions at the Miami Grand Prix and United States Grand Prix in Austin this year both impacted by red flags.
At the FIA World Motors Sport Council meeting in the Uzbekistan capital of Tashkent, the site of this week’s FIA General Assemblies, a tweak has been voted through that allows the F1 race director to extend the sole practice session on sprint weekend to ensure teams get the full hour of running.
In an overview of the WMSC decisions, the FIA stated: “An allowance has been made for FP1 at a sprint event to be extended following a red flag, to ensure that competitors are afforded relevant practice time.”
Oliver Bearman caused the red flag that ended FP1 in Miami
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
It is understood this allowance only comes into play if the free practice session is suspended before the 45-minute mark, in which case the session can be extended as much as required at the race director’s discretion to give competitors the full 60 minutes of practice. The session won’t be extended if it is stopped after the 45-minute mark. The tweak only applies to F1 2026’s six sprint format weekends and not to regular grand prix weekends, which feature three one-hour practice sessions.
In other sporting changes, the FIA confirmed a return to a single pre-season test from 2027 onwards. For next year, winter testing was expanded to two official three-days tests in Bahrain, preceded by a shakedown in Barcelona to help teams get to grips with 2026’s vast regulation changes.
From 2027, F1 will revert to a single test as was the case in 2025, which was held at Bahrain’s Sakhir circuit.
There is also a slight, temporary increase of the number of operational staff allowed in the F1 paddock, from 58 to 60 per outfit, to help teams run the new generation of cars. The FIA also simplified race suspension and resumption procedures and tweaked tyre limitations in the event of a wet sprint qualifying session.
We want to hear from you!
Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.
Take our survey
– The Autosport.com Team
Read the full article here