with Domenicali preparing the ground this year for another regulatory shake-up<\/a>.<\/p>\nSpeaking to Italian media in Monza last fortnight, the CEO suggested the sport was considering both increasing the number of sprint races and reverse-grid racing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe promoters and the fans want to see action, and now that they have begun to understand that it can be done,\u201d Domenicali said, per Motorsport Italy. \u201cOur polls tell us that the vast majority of the public want to see the drivers fighting for a result.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo put it simply, they are tired of free practice. This is an objective fact that we cannot ignore.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe direction is clear: I can guarantee that in a few years the demand will be for every weekend to have the same format.\u201d<\/p>\n
Formula 1 has reported a 10 per cent increase in television viewership for sprint weekends in 2024 compared to regular weekends.<\/p>\n
It also reported an 84 per cent increase in live viewership for Lewis Hamilton\u2019s sprint win in Shanghai this season among Formula 1\u2019s top 15 markets compared to the same race last year, while Lando Norris\u2019s victory in the Miami sprint attracted an 18 per cent year-on-year increase.<\/p>\n
He also said acceptance had grown for a trial of reverse-grid sprint racing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a topic on our agenda,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve discussed it in the past, but in the coming months we\u2019ll need to have the courage to push the discussion forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve even heard from several drivers who proposed it. Initially they were all against it, but at the last meeting many of them said, \u2018Why don\u2019t we try?\u2019<\/p>\n
Reports suggest the sport is closing in on agreement to run sprint races at between 10 and 12 rounds in 2027 with a new format. No changes are expected in 2026 given the sweeping technical regulation changes due next year that are already expected to put considerable strain on the teams.<\/p>\n
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem suggested drivers would be consulted on changes to the format.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pleased to see the Sprint evolving alongside our broader ambitions for the sport,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue to work closely with FOM, the teams, our officials and the drivers to ensure the sprint format enhances the championship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Piastri praised for pit blunder reaction | 02:00<\/p>\n
RACE TIMES CONFIRMED<\/p>\n
The FIA has also confirmed the start times for next year\u2019s record-equalling 24 grands prix.<\/p>\n
There are, however, some wins for Australian audiences.<\/p>\n
The Canadian Grand Prix has been moved to later in the afternoon in Montreal to try to avoid clashing with the Indianapolis 500, which will mean a 6:00am start on Monday morning on the Australian east coast \u2014 an improvement on the race\u2019s usual 4:00am start time.<\/p>\n
The British Grand Prix will commence at midnight as has become usual, but the Silverstone sprint will take place at a markedly more convenient 9:00pm on Saturday. The Dutch Grand Prix will feature a more family-friendly 8:00pm sprint, as will the Singapore Grand Prix \u2014 though the South-East Asian grand prix will take place at 11:00pm on Sunday, on hour later than usual, owing to it now taking place after daylight savings kicks in for most of Australia.<\/p>\n
Both the United States and Mexico City grands prix will start at a comfortable 7:00am on Monday, while Las Vegas will retain its 3:00pm start time, which is 8:00pm in Nevada.<\/p>\n
2026 grand prix start times (dates and times in AEST\/AEDT)<\/p>\n
1. Australian Grand Prix (8 March): 3:00pm<\/p>\n
2. Chinese Grand Prix (15 March): 6:00pm (sprint: 2:00pm on Saturday, 14 March)<\/p>\n
3. Japanese Grand Prix (29 March): 4:00pm<\/p>\n
4. Bahrain Grand Prix (13 April): 1:00am<\/p>\n
5. Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (19 April): 3:00am<\/p>\n
6. Miami Grand Prix (4 May): 6:00am (sprint: 2:00am on Sunday, 3 May)<\/p>\n
7. Canadian Grand Prix (25 May): 6:00am (sprint: 2:00am on Sunday, 24 May)<\/p>\n
8. Monaco Grand Prix (7 June): 11:00pm<\/p>\n
9. Barcelona Grand Prix (14 June): 11:00pm<\/p>\n
10. Austrian Grand Prix (28 June): 11:00pm<\/p>\n
11. British Grand Prix (6 July): 12:00am (sprint: 9:00pm on Saturday, 4 July)<\/p>\n
12. Belgian Grand Prix (19 July): 11:00pm<\/p>\n
13. Hungarian Grand Prix (26 July): 11:00pm<\/p>\n
14. Dutch Grand Prix (23 August): 11:00pm (sprint: 8:00pm on Saturday, 22 August)<\/p>\n
15. Italian Grand Prix (6 September): 11:00pm<\/p>\n
16. Spanish Grand Prix (13 September): 11:00pm<\/p>\n
17. Azerbaijan Grand Prix (27 September): 9:00pm<\/p>\n
18. Singapore Grand Prix (11 October): 11:00pm (sprint: 8:00pm on Saturday, 10 October)<\/p>\n
19. United States Grand Prix (26 October): 7:00am<\/p>\n
20. Mexico City Grand Prix (2 November): 7:00am<\/p>\n
21. Sao Paulo Grand Prix (9 November): 4:00am<\/p>\n
22. Las Vegas Grand Prix (22 November): 3:00pm<\/p>\n
23. Qatar Grand Prix (30 November): 3:00am<\/p>\n
24. Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (7 December): 12:00am<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Montreal, Zandvoort and Singapore will host sprint rounds for the first time in 2026 amid speculation Formula 1…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[944,2095,1724,100038,64,63,689,2065,2791,13275,512,73220,100048,77360,9239,2057,817,2755,813,816,2105,841,14211,73223,2328,1737,2623,100050,5120,825,2184,23956,5140,10952,938,932,16255,2627,2041,2067,677,2119,2111,100044,100047,16193,97712,100049,100037,100054,4933,100041,942,2812,3595,100040,85,100042,100036,18890,100053,16276,100035,100046,18910,100045,100039,73242,100051,100034,31283,100052,100033,100043,2614,97713,12000,2062],"class_list":["post-148313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-abu-dhabi","tag-america","tag-asia","tag-asian-grand-prix","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-canada","tag-central-america","tag-charles-leclerc","tag-china","tag-city-grand","tag-daylight-savings-kicks","tag-difficulty-overtaking","tag-eastern-asia","tag-europe","tag-f1","tag-florida","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-grand-prix","tag-grands-prix","tag-italian-grand","tag-italy","tag-lando-norris","tag-las-vegas","tag-marina-bay","tag-matt","tag-max-verstappen","tag-mexico","tag-mexico-city","tag-miami","tag-mohammed-ben-sulayem","tag-montreal","tag-monza","tag-netherlands","tag-nevada","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-pit-talk","tag-quebec","tag-race-start-times","tag-race-times","tag-regulation-changes","tag-reverse-grid-races","tag-reverse-grid-racing","tag-reverse-grid-sprint-racing","tag-shake-up-rumours-rise","tag-shanghai","tag-shorter-grands-prix","tag-singapore","tag-south-eastern-asia","tag-southern-europe","tag-sparks-fly","tag-sports","tag-sprint-calendar","tag-sprint-events","tag-sprint-format","tag-sprint-nod","tag-sprint-races","tag-sprint-schedule","tag-sprint-venues","tag-sprint-weekend","tag-sprint-winner","tag-start-times","tag-states-grand","tag-street-circuit","tag-sweltering-daylight-conditions","tag-team-orders","tag-technical-regulation-changes","tag-television-viewership","tag-three-round-evaluation-program","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-weekend-format","tag-western-asia","tag-western-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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