Explained: MotoGP to tweak 2023 weekend format

The new weekend schedule will come into effect at Silverstone this weekend on August 4-6, the next round of the cham♐pionship.
New MotoGP format
Friday morning: 45-minute Free Practice 1
Friday afternoon: 60-minute Practi💎ce (session timed for entry into Q2)
Saturday morning: 30-minute Free Practice 2
Saturday morning: 15-minute Qualifying 1
Saturday morning: 15-minute Qualifying 2
Saturday afternoon: Sprint race
Sunday: Warm-up
Sunday: Race
The key change is that the first session of the weekend, now a 45-minute Freeᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ Practice on Friday morni🧔ng, will no longer be timed for entry into Qualifying 2.
This was approved by the Grand Prix Commission after a unanimous agreem🗹ent by every MotoGP team.
From now on, a second session on Friday afternoon called Practice will b𝓀e the only timed session for entry into Q2.
Riders anꦉd teams will then get a 30-minute Free Practice 2 session on Saturday morning, before the usual sprint race.
Sunday is unchanged.

James was a sports journalist at Sky 🌺Sports for a decade covering everything from American spo𝔍rts, to football, to F1.