F2 will feature a different format for the next round in Azerbaijan. Image: XPB Images
The championship will stage its 12th round in Baku from September 24-26, with significantly more running than teams and drivers face at a conventional F2 weekend.
Thursday will begin with 45 minutes of practice before the field returns for back-to-back 20-minute qualifying runs later in the day.
The sprint will be held on Friday morning and the opening feature race that afternoon, before the weekend’s second feature is contested on Saturday morning.
Results from the opening qualifying run will establish the starting orders for both Friday contests, with the sprint applying the usual reverse-grid procedure, while Saturday’s grid will come from the second session.
Each qualifying pole will be worth two championship points and the regular feature-race scoring system will apply to both of the longer contests.
F2 CEO Bruno Michel said the extra running had been made possible because the category will have the support bill to itself in Azerbaijan.
“As Formula 2 is the only support event at the Azerbaijan Formula 1 Grand Prix, together with the promoters, we have opted for a supersized F2 race weekend, with one free practice, two qualifying sessions, one sprint race and two feature races,” Michel said.
“This is the only weekend where the timetable allows the additional sessions, which will increase the level of entertainment even further for the attending crowd and all our fans.
“The Baku City Circuit always provides us with amazing racing, so we’re very pleased to make the 12th Round of our season pretty unique.”
The unusual F2 program comes on a weekend that was already set to look different from the regular Formula 1 timetable.
Azerbaijan’s grand prix will run from Thursday to Saturday because September 27 is Remembrance Day in the country, leaving F1 practice on Thursday, qualifying on Friday and the race on Saturday.
After Baku, F2 is scheduled to finish its campaign alongside F1 in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, where the category says its familiar structure of practice, one qualifying session, a sprint and a feature race will return.
However, the late Baku expansion is likely to attract attention while F1 continues to assess the closing stages of its own calendar amid the unresolved situation in the Middle East.
There is no indication from F2 that the extra Baku race has been introduced as a contingency measure, and its announcement specifically sets out the conventional program planned for Lusail and Yas Marina.
Even so, those two F2 rounds are attached to F1 weekends that have remained under scrutiny, with F1 yet to announce any change to its present Qatar and Abu Dhabi plans.
Qatar organisers have maintained that their November event is proceeding. In July, Stefano Domenicali said Formula 1 would not make its final assessment before the middle of September.
The uncertainty comes after both championships were forced to alter their schedules earlier this year.
F2 inserted Miami and Montreal into its calendar after losing the planned Bahrain and Saudi Arabia meetings, returning the 2026 season to its intended number of rounds.
F1 also recovered one of its lost events, with Bahrain’s race retaining its identity but being relocated to Malaysia’s Sepang circuit for October 2-4.
Nikola Tsolov will arrive in Baku leading the F2 drivers’ standings by seven points over Rafael Camara.