FIM and Dorna have confirmed a tweak to race weekend formats by confirming the first practice session on Friday will have no bearing on deciding which ten riders progress to Q2.

Following the addition of a Sprint Race to the programme this year, the opening eight rounds of the 2023 MotoGP season used P1 and P2 on Friday to determine which riders will progress to Q2 directly and which will fight it out for two remaining spots in Q1.

However, the format - which differed in previous years by combining lap times from FP1 and FP2 on Friday, plus FP3 on Saturday morning to decide Q1/Q2 - has come in for criticism from riders who felt it put too much pressure on them to set a quick single lap time rather than work on set-up for the races.

As such, the FIM has confirmed the first 45-mins session of the weekend will no longer contribute to a combined classification at the end of the day. As such, it will be referred to as Free Practice 1 and mean the order at the end of the 60-mins Practice 2 session on Friday afternoon only will determine which ten riders will progress to Q2.

Free Practice 3 will still take place before qualifying on Saturday morning and remain 30mins long.

The 2023 MotoGP World Championship season resumes on 4-6 August with Round 9, the British MotoGP at Silverstone.