Since 2006, three free practice sessions (often abbreviated FP1, FP2 and FP3) are held before the race. The first is typically on Friday morning and the second on Friday afternoon, while the third is typically on Saturday morning. However, on a sprint weekend drivers only get one practice session, as Sprint Qualifying and the Sprint Race take up the FP2 and FP3 slots respectively. From 2021, all sessions last one hour; prior to this, the Friday sessions were 90 minutes and the Saturday session one hour. Also in 2021, cars are put under parc fermé conditions after the third practice session instead of after qualifying. Private tests are now heavily restricted, but a third driver (such as a reserve, test, or junior driver) is permitted to take part in the first Friday free practice session in place of a regular driver. The second practice session for the Bahrain, Singapore and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix takes place in the evening, as these races are run at night. All practice sessions for the Las Vegas Grand Prix were held at night, with the first two on Thursday, the third and qualifying on Friday, and the race on Saturday.
Formula 1 qualifying takes place before each race to decide the starting grid order. The driver who sets the fastest lap starts from pole position at the front of the grid, while slower lap times line up progressively behind. Any drivers unable to set a qualifying time, for mechanical, weather, or penalty-related reasons, are placed at the back of the grid.
Traditionally before 1996, qualifying was split into two one-hour sessions; the first held on Friday (Thursday at Monaco) afternoon from 13:00 to 14:00 local time, the second on Saturday afternoon at the same time. The fastest time set by each driver from either session counted towards their final grid position, and each driver was limited to twelve laps per session. In 1996, qualifying was amended, with the Friday session abolished in favour of a single session held on Saturday afternoon; each driver was limited to twelve laps, and a 107% rule was introduced to exclude drivers with slow lap times. This format remained until the conclusion of the 2002 season.
Between 2003 and 2005, the session was run as a one-lap session held on Friday and Saturday afternoon, with cars running one at a time and immediately returning to the pits after completing their laps. In 2003, the Friday running order was determined with the leader of the Drivers' Championship heading out first, and the Saturday running order was determined by times set in Friday afternoon qualifying, with the fastest heading out last. No refuelling was allowed between the start of Saturday qualifying and the start of the race, so drivers qualified on race fuel; the lap times from the Friday afternoon session did not determine the grid order. In 2004, the Friday session was moved to Saturday and the running order for the first session was based on the result of the previous race. At the start of 2005, sessions were held on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, with lap times from both counted to give the overall aggregate position; from the 2005 European Grand Prix onwards, the Sunday morning session was dropped for a single run on Saturday afternoon, having proved unpopular with drivers, teams and broadcasters, with the running order the reverse of the previous race result.
Since 2006, qualifying takes place on Saturday afternoon in a three-stage "knockout" system. One hour is dedicated to determining the grid order, divided into three periods with short intermissions. Since 2010, the first period (Q1) is eighteen minutes long, with all twenty cars competing; at the end of Q1, the five slowest drivers are eliminated and fill positions sixteen to twenty based on their fastest lap time. Any driver attempting to set a time when the period ends is permitted to finish their lap, though no new laps may be started once the chequered flag is shown. After a short break, the second period (Q2, 15 minutes long) begins with fifteen cars on the circuit; the five slowest are once again eliminated, filling positions eleven to fifteen. Finally, the third period (Q3, previously 12 minutes, now 13 minutes long from 2026 onwards) features the ten fastest drivers from Q2, who are issued a new set of soft tyres and have twelve minutes to set a time which determines the top ten grid positions. The driver who sets the fastest qualifying time is said to be on pole position, the grid position that offers the best physical position from which to start the race.
Drivers may complete as many laps as they choose within the permitted session time. As of the 2022 season, all drivers are permitted to start the race on the tyre of their choice regardless of grid position, whereas previously drivers starting in the top 10 had to start on the same tyre as the one on which they set their fastest Q2 lap. Generally, a driver leaves the pits and drives around the track to get to the start/finish line (the out-lap), attempts the quickest time they can in one or more laps (the flying lap or hot lap), and returns to the pit lane (the in-lap); however, this is merely strategy, and teams are not obliged to follow it. For the first two races of the 2016 season, a modified format was used where drivers were eliminated during the sessions rather than just at the end, and only eight drivers progressed to the final session; qualifying reverted to the previous format from the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix onwards.
Following the decision to make sprints standalone from 2023 onwards, sprints were given a dedicated qualifying session, dubbed "sprint shootout" in 2023 and "sprint qualifying" in 2024. The format is the same as qualifying, but with the three segments (dubbed SQ1, SQ2 and SQ3) being shorter at 12, 10 and 8 minutes, instead of 18, 15 and 12. Initially, new tyres were mandatory for each phase, with mediums for SQ1 and SQ2 and softs for SQ3; this was changed for the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix to allow teams to use any set of soft tyres, new or used, for SQ3, after Lando Norris could not run in SQ3 at the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix having exhausted his allocation of soft tyres.
As of 2025, ten teams are entered for the Formula One World Championship, each entering two cars for a total of twenty. The regulations place a limit of twenty-six entries. At some periods in the history of the sport the number of cars entered for each race has exceeded the number permitted, which historically varied from race to race according to the circuit used; Monaco, for example, for many years allowed only twenty cars to compete because of the restricted space available. The slowest cars excess to the circuit limit would not qualify for the race and would be listed as 'Did not qualify' (DNQ) in race results.
There had been pre-qualifying sessions in the late 1970s, but during the late 1980s and early 1990s the number of cars attempting to enter each race was as high as thirty-nine for some races. Because of the dangers of having so many cars on the track at the same time, pre-qualifying sessions were re-introduced for the teams with the worst record over the previous twelve months, including any new teams. Usually, only the four fastest cars from this session were then allowed into the qualifying session proper, where thirty cars competed for twenty-six places on the starting grid. The slowest cars from the pre-qualifying session were listed in race results as 'Did Not Pre-Qualify' (DNPQ). Pre-qualifying was discontinued after the 1992 Hungarian Grand Prix, when many small teams withdrew from the sport.
As the number of cars entered in the world championship fell below twenty-six, a situation arose in which any car entered would automatically qualify for the race, no matter how slowly it had been driven. The 107% rule was introduced in 1996 to prevent completely uncompetitive cars being entered. If a car's qualifying time was not within 107% of the pole sitter's time, that car would not qualify for the race, unless at the discretion of the race stewards for a situation such as a rain-affected qualifying session. For example, if the pole-sitter's time was one minute and forty seconds, any car eligible for racing had to set a time within one minute and forty-seven seconds.
The rule was removed in 2003 since the FIA's rules indicated that 24 cars could take the start of a Formula One race, with a minimum of twenty required to enter, and the 2003 single-lap qualifying procedure rendered the rule inoperable. However, concerns about the pace of new teams in 2010, and the return of the three-part knockout system, meant the rule could be reintroduced, which it was for the 2011 season. Currently, cars eliminated in Q1 have to be within 107% of the fastest Q1 time to qualify for the race. Since reintroduction, only twice have cars failed to qualify for a Grand Prix — both times involving Hispania Racing cars at the Australian Grand Prix, in 2011 (Vitantonio Liuzzi and Narain Karthikeyan) and 2012 (Karthikeyan and Pedro de la Rosa). At their discretion, stewards may permit a driver who fails to set a time within the 107% span to enter the race; for example, at the 2018 British Grand Prix, Lance Stroll and Brendon Hartley both failed to set times within 107% but were permitted to race on the grounds of satisfactory free practice lap times. After eleven drivers failed to set satisfactory Q1 times at the 2016 Hungarian Grand Prix due to inclement weather, the regulations were amended in 2018 so that wet sessions are not subject to the 107% rule.
Drivers or cars may be issued penalties against their starting positions, commonly for exceeding component limits, or for sporting offences in free practice, qualifying, or a previous race. This can lead to the starting grid being significantly different from the qualifying order.
During the 2021 Formula One World Championship, Formula One trialled a "sprint qualifying" system at three Grands Prix — Great Britain, Italy, and São Paulo — in which the grid for the race on Sunday was determined by a 100 km sprint on Saturday. On a race weekend with sprint qualifying, the Friday sessions consisted of one practice session and a traditional qualifying session, limited to soft tyres, which set the grid for sprint qualifying. Only the winner of sprint qualifying was considered to have taken pole position for the main Grand Prix, and they received a trophy similar to the pole position trophy awarded at other race weekends; the top three finishers in 2021 received World Championship points in a 3–2–1 scoring system. Formula One stuck with three sprint events after plans to increase to six were abandoned when teams failed to agree on the cost-cap considerations.
For the 2022 season, "sprint qualifying" was renamed "sprint." The weekend format remained unchanged and was run at the Emilia Romagna, Austrian, and São Paulo Grands Prix, with points now awarded to the top eight finishers rather than the top three. Unlike 2021, the driver who set the fastest time in qualifying was credited as the official pole-sitter (unless penalised), with the sprint winner continuing to have the right to start the main race from the first-place grid position.
From 2023, standalone sprint events were implemented, meaning the outcome of the sprint race would no longer set the grid for the main race. These plans were approved a few days before the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the first of the six events on the 2023 calendar to feature the sprint format. The 2023 format featured Friday consisting of a single practice session followed by qualifying that set the starting grid for Sunday's race; Saturday featured a special qualifying session, the sprint shootout, which set the grid for the sprint race held later on Saturday. The structure was changed again for 2024 to rationalise sprint events: the sprint shootout (renamed sprint qualifying) was moved to Friday afternoon after the weekend's only practice session, the sprint became the first session on Saturday, followed by qualifying for the main race, and the Grand Prix remained on Sunday. For the first three seasons of the sprint format there was a single parc fermé period from Friday's Grand Prix qualifying through to the start of the Grand Prix; for 2024 there are two separate periods — the first from the start of sprint qualifying to the start of the sprint, the second from Saturday's Grand Prix qualifying to the start of the Grand Prix itself — intended to allow teams to fine-tune their cars between the sprint and Grand Prix qualifying.
The race itself is usually held on a Sunday afternoon. Exceptions in 2025 were the night or evening races at Singapore, Bahrain, Qatar, Las Vegas, Saudi Arabia, and Abu Dhabi, as well as the Las Vegas Grand Prix being held on a Saturday since 2023. Prior to that, the last race not to take place on a Sunday was the 1985 South African Grand Prix, which took place on a Saturday. The race distance is determined as the smallest number of complete laps that exceed 305 kilometres (190 mi) in total distance, with the exception of the Monaco Grand Prix, which is run over the least number of laps to exceed 260 kilometres (160 mi). Occasionally, races are truncated due to special circumstances. The maximum length of a race is two hours; if a race reaches the two-hour mark, the chequered flag is waved at the end of the next lap. Time under potential red flag conditions does not count towards the race time, though a red flag stoppage must not exceed three hours. At the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, the three-hour countdown was stopped, with force majeure being cited.
Thirty minutes prior to race time, the cars take to the track for any number of warm-up laps (formally reconnaissance laps), provided they pass through the pit lane and not the grid, after which they assemble on the starting grid in the order they qualified, including pit crews and various equipment. At the hour of the race, a green light signifies the beginning of the relatively slow formation lap during which all cars parade around the course with the opportunity of a final tyre warm-up and system check, while the pit crews and equipment return to the pits. The cars then return to their assigned grid spot for a standing start. The starting light system, consisting of five pairs of lights mounted above the start/finish line, lights up each pair at one-second intervals; once all five pairs are illuminated, after a random length of time between 0.2 and 3 seconds, the red lights are turned off by the race director, at which point the race starts.
Each driver is required to use two different types of dry compound during a dry race, and so must make a mandatory pit stop. Timing pit stops with reference to other cars is crucial — if following another car but unable to pass, the driver may try to stay on the track as long as possible, or pit immediately, as newer tyres are usually faster. Prior to the 2010 season, drivers used to make pit stops for fuel more than once during a race, as the cars on average travelled two kilometres per litre (approximately five miles per gallon); this figure is now higher, due to changes in engines from 2014, and as a result refuelling has been forbidden during a race since 2010. If a driver starts the race using intermediate or wet tyres, they are not mandated to make a pit stop.
At the end of the race, the first, second and third-placed drivers take their places on a podium, where they stand as the national anthem of the race winner's home country and that of their team is played. Dignitaries from the host country then present trophies to the drivers and a constructor's trophy to a representative from the winner's team, and the winning drivers spray champagne and are interviewed. The three drivers then go to a media room for a press conference where they answer questions in English and their native languages.
Historically, races were scored on the basis of a five-place tally — an 8–6–4–3–2 scoring system, with the holder of the fastest race lap also receiving a bonus point. In 1961, scoring was revised to give the winner nine points instead of eight, and the single point awarded for fastest lap was given for sixth place for the first time the previous year. In 1991, the system was again revised to give the victor 10 points, with all other scorers recording the same 6–4–3–2–1 result. In 2003, the FIA further revised the system to apportion points to the first eight classified finishers (a classified finisher must complete 90% of race distance) on a 10–8–6–5–4–3–2–1 basis.
At certain points between 1950 and 1990, drivers' points for the season were tallied based on their best results across the World Championship, which varied from 4 to 11 in a season, and during the late 1960s and 1970s points were tallied based on their best results from each half of the season, varying from four to seven. This was done in order to equalise the footings of teams which may not have had the wherewithal to compete in all events. With the advent of the Concorde Agreements, this practice was discontinued, though it did feature prominently in several world championships through the 1970s and 1980s, primarily in 1988 when Alain Prost scored a total of 105 points to Ayrton Senna's 94, but due to only the best 11 results counting, Senna won, with the final tally being 90–87.
Points are awarded to drivers and teams based on where they finish in a race. The winner receives 25 points, the second-place finisher 18 points, with 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 points for positions 3 through 10 respectively. In a dead heat, prizes and points are added together and shared equally for all those drivers who tie. The winner of the annual championship is the driver (or team, for the Constructors' Championship) with the most points. If the number of points is the same, priority is given to the driver with more wins; if that is the same it is decided on the most second places, and so on.
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