Formula One race weekend

A Formula One race weekend is an auto racing event which takes place over three days (usually Friday to Sunday), with a series of practice and qualifying sessions prior to the race on Sunday. Current regulations provide for two free practice sessions on Friday, a morning practice session and an afternoon qualifying session held on Saturday, and the race held on Sunday afternoon or evening, although the structure of the weekend has changed numerous times over the history of the sport. Historically, the Monaco Grand Prix held practice on Thursday rather than Friday (up to and including 2021), and the whole schedule for the Las Vegas (starting from its inaugural event in 2023), Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix (in 2024 only) is brought forward by one day. At most Formula One race weekends, other events such as races in other Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) series, such as Formula 2 or Formula 3, are held.

Since 2006, three free practice sessions (often abbreviated to FP1, FP2, and FP3) are held before the race. The first is typically held on Friday morning and the second on Friday afternoon, while the third session is typically on Saturday morning. From 2021, all sessions last for one hour; prior to this, the Friday sessions were 90 minutes in length and the Saturday session was one hour in length. In addition in 2021, cars are now put under parc fermé conditions after the third practice session instead of 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 the 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 held on Saturday.

A qualifying session is held before each race to determine the order cars will be lined up in at the start of the race, with the fastest qualifier starting at the front and the slowest at the back. Drivers who could not set a time for any reason are also relegated to the back.

Traditionally before 1996, qualifying was split into two one-hour sessions; the first was held on Friday (Thursday at Monaco) afternoon from 13:00 to 14:00 local time, with the second held on Saturday afternoon at the same time. The fastest time set by each driver from either session counted towards their final grid position. Each driver was limited to twelve laps per qualifying session.

In 1996, qualifying was amended with the Friday qualifying session abolished in a favour for a single qualifying session held on Saturday afternoon. As previously, each driver was limited to twelve laps with the inclusion of a 107% rule to exclude drivers with slow lap times. This was calculated by using the time of the driver on pole position and adding on 7% to create a cut-off time. This format remained until the conclusion of the 2002 season. Between 2003 and 2005, the qualifying session was run as a one-lap session and took place on Friday and Saturday afternoon with the cars running one at a time. In 2003, the Friday running order was determined with the leader of the Drivers' Championship heading out first. The Saturday running order was determined by times set in Friday afternoon qualifying with the fastest heading out last and the slowest running first. 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. The running order for the first session was now based on the result of the previous race. At first both sessions were held back-to-back, but the first session was later moved earlier in the day. At the start of 2005, the sessions were held on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. Lap times from both sessions were 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. The running order was 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 between them. Since 2010, the first qualifying period (Q1) is eighteen minutes long, with all twenty cars competing. At the end of Q1, the five slowest drivers are eliminated from further qualification rounds, and fill positions sixteen to twenty on the grid based on their fastest lap time. Any driver attempting to set a qualifying 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. At the end of Q2, the five slowest drivers are once again eliminated, filling grid positions eleven to fifteen. Finally, the third qualifying period (Q3) (12 minutes long) features the ten fastest drivers from the second period. The drivers are issued a new set of soft tyres and have twelve minutes to set a qualifying time, which will determine the top ten positions on the grid. 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 qualifying session's time. As of the 2022 season, all drivers are permitted to start the race on the tyre of their choice regardless of their grid position, whereas previously it was required for the drivers starting in the top 10 grid positions to start on the same tyre as the one that they set their fastest lap time within the second qualifying session. Generally, a driver will leave the pits and drive around the track in order to get to the start/finish line (the out-lap). Having crossed the line, they will attempt to achieve the quickest time around the circuit that they can in one or more laps (the flying lap or hot lap). This is the lap time which is used in calculating grid position. Finally, the driver will continue back around the track and re-enter the pit lane (the in-lap); however, this is merely strategy, and no teams are obliged by the rules to follow this formula, as drivers may elect to set several flying laps before returning to the pits. 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.