Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli outpaced British drivers Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris to win the fourth sprint race at Silverstone in July. The fifth of six sprint races in 2026 will be held at the Dutch Grand Prix, from 21–23 August.
The format is nearly identical to last year's, except that now six cars—instead of five—will be eliminated in the first two qualifying sessions. Sprint qualifying takes place on Friday, after the only practice session of the weekend.
The 100-kilometre sprint race, lasting approximately 30 minutes, is the first on-track action on Saturday. At Zandvoort, the sprint race has 24 laps and begins at 11:00 BST. Qualifying for the main race takes its usual place as the second session on Saturday, and the Grand Prix is held normally on Sunday at 14:00.
Sprint qualifying consists of three sessions—known as SQ1, SQ2 and SQ3—lasting 12, 10 and 8 minutes respectively. The six slowest cars are eliminated in the first two sessions, as in regular qualifying. Only the top eight qualifiers score points in the sprint race, with eight points awarded to the winner down to one point for eighth place, which count towards the overall drivers' championship.
The Dutch Grand Prix will host an inaugural sprint race this weekend, coinciding with the final race to be held at Zandvoort before the circuit leaves the F1 calendar permanently. The sixth and final sprint race of the season will be hosted by the Singapore Grand Prix at Marina Bay in October.
