The Qatar Grand Prix weekend, day by day
What runs on track each day from Friday 27 to Sunday 29 November 2026, what the fan zone and Family Friday offer, how last year's concerts worked, and how to spend three days at Lusail without wasting the hot hours.
Last checked 3 November 2026
On last year’s gate hours, a three day ticket at Lusail gave you about thirty hours inside the circuit, and only a few of them had Formula 1 cars on track. This guide is about the rest: what is running when, what the fan zone holds, and what happened after the racing last year. Our first timer’s guide covers weather, bag rules and food, and our race day travel guide covers gates and shuttles, so we do not repeat them here.
First, the sprint question
Some pages still say Friday holds a sprint. It does not. Formula 1’s 2026 sprint calendar, published in September 2025, lists six sprint weekends and Qatar is not one of them. The official ticket seller’s timetable says the same thing in plain words, and explains that the only sprint race at Lusail this year is the Formula 2 one on Saturday. The circuit’s own event page and FAQ still list practice, sprint qualifying and a sprint on Friday. Our reading: the circuit’s listing has not caught up, and the conventional weekend below is the one to plan around. Our grand prix event page will change if the circuit says otherwise.
The timetable
These are the provisional times published by the official ticket seller, in Qatar time (UTC+3). It says they may change.
| Day | Session | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Friday 27 | Formula 2 practice | 14:00 to 14:45 |
| Friday 27 | F1 car presentation | 15:00 to 16:00 |
| Friday 27 | F1 first practice | 16:30 to 17:30 |
| Friday 27 | Formula 2 qualifying | 18:00 to 18:30 |
| Friday 27 | F1 second practice | 20:00 to 21:00 |
| Saturday 28 | F1 third practice | 17:30 to 18:30 |
| Saturday 28 | Formula 2 sprint race | 19:40 to 20:30 |
| Saturday 28 | F1 qualifying | 21:00 to 22:00 |
| Sunday 29 | Formula 2 feature race | 15:00 to 16:05 |
| Sunday 29 | Drivers’ parade | 17:00 to 17:30 |
| Sunday 29 | National anthem | 18:44 to 18:46 |
| Sunday 29 | Grand prix, 57 laps | 19:00 to 21:00 |
Two things stand out. Saturday starts late, with nothing on track before 17:30, so there is no reason to arrive early unless you want the fan zone. And qualifying at 21:00 is the latest session of the weekend, which matters for the trip home more than the race does.
Friday: the easy day
Friday is the quietest and cheapest day, and this year it is the one built for families. The circuit has brought back Family Friday for 27 November. An adult with a general admission ticket for the hill, which costs QAR 200 for Friday alone, can bring up to four children under 12 free. The children’s passes have to be claimed in advance through the circuit’s own ticket platform, not at the gate. Our hill or grandstand guide has the detail on the Friday ticket itself.
The day has the most track time for the least money: two Formula 2 sessions, two F1 practice sessions and the car presentation. First practice runs in daylight and second practice under the lights, so a Friday visit shows you both versions of the circuit.
Saturday: arrive late, stay late
With third practice at 17:30, Saturday afternoon is free. Our suggestion is to spend it in the city and come out in the late afternoon. The evening then builds steadily: practice, the Formula 2 sprint, and qualifying at 21:00, which is the session most worth watching if you only see one besides the race.
Sunday: the long one
Sunday has racing from 15:00. The Formula 2 feature race is the hottest session of the weekend, the drivers’ parade follows at 17:00, and the grand prix starts at 19:00. If you are on the hill, our judgement is that arriving for the feature race and claiming your spot then is a better use of the afternoon than arriving for the parade and hunting for space.
What is in the fan zone
Every ticket includes the fan zone. The circuit has described the 2026 version in general terms only, as of late October: live music and DJ sets, racing simulators, arcade games, an obstacle course and a miniature racing circuit, creative workshops, cultural experiences and children’s activities on car design and aerodynamics. There are also recycled art installations and phone charging points. The circuit says giant screens will be placed around the site, so you can follow sessions from the fan zone too.
The headline item is the F1 Fan Forum, where drivers and team principals talk on stage. No times have been published for 2026. In 2025 it ran on Friday and Saturday, so if meeting the people behind the cars matters to you, our judgement is that those two days are the ones to plan for.
Opening hours are not out yet. In 2025 the fan zone closed at 21:45 on Friday and Sunday and 22:00 on Saturday.
After the racing: the concerts
Each ticket includes entry to that day’s post race concert. No 2026 artists have been named as of 3 November, and the circuit says the programme may change.
Last year’s pattern is the best guide to how it works. The 2025 weekend had a different act each night: Seal on Friday, Cheb Khaled on Saturday and Metallica on Sunday. Performances started about half an hour after the day’s racing, in a concert arena reached through the fan zone, and the concert gates opened at 20:30 on Friday and Saturday and 20:00 on Sunday. The circuit stayed open for the concerts after the main gates shut.
If the same timing holds, a Sunday concert would start around 21:30, after the race. Before you commit to staying, check the final shuttle and metro hours on our race day travel guide, because the preliminary 2026 shuttle hours end earlier than last year’s.
In the city before the weekend
In 2025 the circuit ran a free Qatar GP Village at Place Vendôme mall through November, with simulators and a pit stop game, and placed giant helmet sculptures around Doha, including at Old Doha Port and Msheireb. Nothing similar has been announced for 2026 yet. If it returns, it is an easy free hour for anyone in Doha early, and our where to stay guide covers the areas around it.
What is not known yet
As of 3 November 2026: the final timetable, the concert line up, fan zone hours and layout, Fan Forum times, gate times and any city activation. We will update this page when the circuit publishes them.
Provisional 2026 timetable and ticket inclusions from the official ticket seller’s schedule and ticket pages. Friday sprint listing, concert wording and giant screens from the circuit’s event page and 2026 FAQ. Sprint venues from Formula1.com’s 2026 sprint calendar, 16 September 2025. Family Friday 2026 from the Qatar Tribune, 21 September 2026. 2026 fan zone contents from the Qatar Tribune, 22 October 2026. 2025 Fan Forum days from Gulf Times, 31 October 2025. 2025 concert line up, concert gate times and fan zone hours from The Peninsula’s spectator guidelines, 25 November 2025. 2025 city activations from Gulf Times, 3 November 2025, and Gulf Times, 11 October 2025. All checked 3 November 2026.