More drivers face elimination earlier in qualifying. How will this affect Saturday showdowns and sprint races for 2026?
Race qualifying
Race qualifying occurs on the Saturday of a race weekend and is split into three stages, Q1, Q2, and Q3. At the end of each stage the slowest drivers get eliminated while the fastest drivers move on to see if they can continue the pace.
As fewer cars are out on track, the time of the stages gets shorter, with Q1 at 18 minutes, Q2 at 15 minutes, and Q3 at 12 minutes.
The change in qualifying comes in how many cars are eliminated after Q1 and Q2. When there were 20 cars on the grid Q1 and Q2 would each see five cars eliminated before Q3’s top ten shootout. With Cadillac joining the grid, there will now be six cars eliminated in Q1 and Q2, before the top ten participate in the final shootout.
Sprint qualifying will also change format, with six drivers dropped after Q1 and Q2. The main difference between race and sprint qualifying is that sprint qualifying sessions are shorter than race sessions. SQ1 lasts 12 minutes, SQ2 10 minutes, and SQ3 8 minutes.
Points system
Despite adding another team to the grid, the points system will not be changing for the 2026 season. There was consideration of expanding the points to the top twelve finishers, but they ultimately decided against it.
The current points distribution is 25 for P1, 18 for P2, 15 for P3, 12 for P4, 10 for P5, 8 for P6, 6 for P7, 4 for P8, 2 for P9, 1 for P10, and 0 for 11-22. If they were to change the points system to award points through P12, the points would stay the same from P1-P7 then P8 would change to 5 points and would descend by one point and P12 would receive one point.
It would be beneficial to expand the points structure from P12 onward to encourage more competition among the backmarker teams. There are 4 teams considered front-runners and expected to be in the top ten in most races, leaving only 2 points spots for now for 14 other drivers.
Adding two more positions in the points would allow for the midfield and backmarker teams to have a closer battle, making it more interesting for fans to watch.
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