Our newbie’s information supplies all it is advisable know in regards to the F1 Dash, explaining how this thrilling addition to the Components 1 weekend works, the way it has developed and what it means for the F1 weekend.
Whereas the majority of the 2024 season consists of conventional Grand Prix weekends, six of them – 1 / 4 of the 24 occasions in complete – have been designated F1 Dash occasions. However what’s a Dash occasion? It’s Components 1 as we all know it – however with rather less dialog, a little bit extra motion.
What’s the F1 Dash?
The Dash is a brief race. It covers 100km – about one-third of a typical Grand Prix distance – and will final about half-hour. This size has been chosen to encourage a race that’s dynamic moderately than strategic. Not like a Grand Prix, there aren’t any necessary pit stops. Pit stops aren’t banned however the race is simply too brief for tyre adjustments to be efficient.
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The venues chosen for Dash occasions are all tracks with nice overtaking potential, picked to attempt and make sure the Dash is a flat-out, aggressive mêlée from begin to end. Factors are on supply, from eight down to at least one, awarded for the primary eight vehicles to complete.
How does the F1 Dash work?
A Dash weekend is completely different to the normal Grand Prix weekend however it’s nonetheless a three-day affair with the Grand Prix as the principle occasion – solely with much more pleasure.
A Components 1 weekend is often run (although not at all times) over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Over the three days, the F1 vehicles seem on observe for 5 periods. An ordinary weekend has three Free Observe periods (FP1, FP2 and FP3) lasting an hour every, one other hour for Qualifying – which units the grid for the Grand Prix – after which the Grand Prix itself.
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On a Dash weekend, two of the apply periods are deleted and changed. The Dash Shootout – a qualifying session that units the grid for the Dash – replaces FP2 on Friday afternoon. The Dash itself replaces FP3 on Saturday, earlier than Qualifying for the Grand Prix occurs as regular within the afternoon.
With restricted Free Observe operating the stress is on to get the set-up proper first time, and with additional factors obtainable in a Dash weekend it is much more intense.
Championship factors awarded in an F1 Dash
Place
Factors
1st
8
2nd
7
third
6
4th
5
fifth
4
sixth
3
seventh
2
eighth
1
What’s the F1 Dash Shootout?
The Dash Shootout takes place on Friday afternoon. Cut up into three levels – SQ1, SQ2 and SQ3 – lasting 12 minutes, 10 minutes and simply 8 minutes respectively, the Shootout follows an analogous format to Qualifying.
The 5 slowest drivers are eradicated after SQ1, earlier than 5 extra drop out from SQ2 – thereby setting the grid positions from twentieth as much as eleventh within the Dash.
The ten remaining drivers head into SQ3 to find out the highest 10 grid slots, with the quickest driver ranging from the entrance of the pack in Saturday’s Dash race.
WATCH: Dash Shootout Highlights: 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix
What number of F1 Sprints are there?
Six venues will host F1 Dash occasions in 2024. China and Miami make the Dash line up for the primary time, becoming a member of Austin and Qatar which each return to host their second Dash occasions. Austria (internet hosting their third) and Brazil (internet hosting their fourth) full the thrilling 2024 F1 Dash roster.
2024 F1 Dash calendar
Date
Occasion
Venue
April 19-21
China
Shanghai
Could 3-5
Miami
Miami
June 28-30
Austria
Spielberg
October 18-20
United States
Austin
November 1-3
Brazil
Sao Paulo
November 29 – December 1
Qatar
Lusail
Why was the F1 Dash launched?
Merely put, the Dash weekend delivers extra bang to your buck. Many spectators take pleasure in merely watching the vehicles throughout a apply session, however it isn’t everybody’s concept of a superb time. The Dash format ensures significant motion day by day, with both factors or grid place at stake.
It offers followers on the observe the chance to see F1 vehicles completely flat-out on every day of the occasion, and provides viewers at house extra racing to take pleasure in.
READ MORE: F1 Dash format tweak agreed forward of return for 2024 season
Why not have an F1 Dash all over the place?
One of many very nice virtues of Components 1 is that every Grand Prix is distinctive. Some circuits usually are not a pure match for the Dash format, others run a better probability of automotive harm and would make groups overly cautious, and a few circuits are very snug with their conventional weekend format.
However the Dash is a younger and evolving idea, with the current association nonetheless a part of a studying train.
Dash Highlights: 2023 Qatar Grand Prix
Does the Dash affect the Grand Prix?
No… and sure. The Dash is designed to be standalone occasion. The Shootout on Friday afternoon kinds the grid for the Dash on Saturday morning, and the results of the Dash has no bearing on the Grand Prix… besides in some very particular circumstances.
The primary is a grid penalty. As with all Components 1 race, a driver choosing up a penalty within the Dash that may’t be served instantly, will serve it at their subsequent race – often the Grand Prix the next day.
READ MORE: From Dash format tweaks to promotional occasions – 9 rule adjustments it is advisable know for the 2024 F1 season
The second is crash harm. A workforce is allowed to restore crash harm with out penalty in the event that they use like-for-like components – but when a Dash crash is sufficiently extreme that the workforce wants to alter the chassis, then the motive force will mechanically lose their spot on the grid and have to start out the Grand Prix from the pit lane. This occurred to Sergio Perez in Qatar final 12 months.
The larger affect on a Grand Prix comes not from the Dash, however moderately from the restricted nature of apply, with just one Free Observe session on a Dash weekend as a substitute of the same old three. This has a profound impression on the groups and the way they function – and never solely as a result of they’ve solely 60 minutes of observe time to apply as a substitute of the same old 180.
On a traditional race weekend, the groups have 26 hours between the top of the primary apply session and once they should lock-in their set-up decisions for Qualifying and the race. There’s lots of evaluation performed on the observe, and extra again on the manufacturing facility, the place reserve drivers can be working within the simulator experimenting with completely different set-up choices based mostly on the telemetry flowing again from the circuit, and engineers can be mulling over the wealthy seam of information it generates.
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The vehicles are additionally operating additional electronics on Friday, with supplemental sensors and cameras, designed to maximise that information. These sensors and cameras, along with their wiring looms, are heavy – maybe including 4 or 5 kilos – and can be stripped out on Friday night, getting the automotive right down to its combating weight forward of Saturday’s motion.
None of these items are actually doable on a Dash weekend. The automotive goes out for the one apply session in one thing as near its race spec because the workforce can guestimate. It’s a technique of operation that rewards a slick, efficient trackside operation – however punishes groups for the remainder of the weekend if their greatest guesses are incorrect. Somebody is at all times caught out, which makes Dash weekends dramatically unpredictable.
How has the F1 Dash modified?
Dash weekends are a comparatively fashionable addition to Components 1. The 2021 calendar included three Dash occasions, with the primary being held as a part of the British Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone. This was adopted by Sprints at Monza and Interlagos. The method was repeated in 2022, this time with Sprints at Imola, the Pink Bull Ring and Interlagos once more, and the programme was expanded to 6 occasions in 2023, with Sprints in Azerbaijan, Austria, Belgium, Qatar, the US Grand Prix and Brazil.
The principles have gone by means of one thing of a metamorphosis in its brief historical past, with the preliminary model having the Dash set the grid for the Grand Prix, and a token variety of factors on supply for the primary three finishers. That modified for 2023, with extra factors made obtainable in an effort to take away a component of warning that had crept into proceedings too. The Dash weekend format was tweaked for 2024, with the Shootout transferring to Friday afternoon forward of the Dash itself on Saturday morning.
Max Verstappen has been F1’s stand-out sprinter, profitable seven of the 12 races to this point. Valtteri Bottas is the one different a number of winner, with two victories, whereas George Russell, Sergio Pérez and Oscar Piastri have additionally taken Dash wins.