The weekend
Every round runs the same two-race rhythm. Friday opens with 45 minutes of FP1 before the hour-long Practice session that actually matters: the ten fastest times go straight to Q2. Saturday starts with a half-hour FP2, then Q1, where everyone else fights over the last two Q2 places; Q2's fifteen minutes settle the first twelve grid slots. That single grid serves both races. The Sprint — roughly half grand prix distance, around twenty minutes flat-out — runs on Saturday afternoon, and Sunday brings a short warm-up before the grand prix itself.
Points
A grand prix pays the top fifteen: 25-20-16-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. The Sprint pays the top nine: 12-9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. A perfect weekend is therefore worth 37 points, and with all 22 rounds carrying a Sprint there are 814 on offer across the season. Ties are broken on countback — most wins, then most seconds, and so on — with the later result taking precedence if riders are somehow still level.
What decides things
Tyres are a weekend-long chess game: riders draw from a fixed Michelin allocation — twelve rears split seven of the softer compound and five of the harder — and 2026 trims the front choice to two specifications at most rounds. The stewards' weapon of choice is the long-lap penalty, a run through a marked loop off the racing line costing two to four seconds; a jump start brings two of them as standard. Behind the scenes, the concession system ranks manufacturers A to D by their share of available points: the grid entered 2026 with Ducati alone in Rank A, Honda, KTM and Aprilia in Rank C, and Yamaha alone in Rank D — a status that buys race-rider testing and open engine development for its new V4. It is also a farewell season twice over: the last year of 1000cc engines and of Michelin rubber before 850cc machines on Pirellis arrive in 2027.
The championship
Three titles run in parallel. The Riders' crown is the headline act, counting every Sprint and grand prix point. The Teams' championship adds both riders' scores together, while the Constructors' table counts only each manufacturer's best-placed bike in each race — one healthy Ducati is enough to keep the marque clear. With 22 rounds and 44 point-paying races, championships are now won on Saturdays as much as Sundays.