Find out when all 24 races will start in UK time in 2024, with the new season beginning with back-to-back races on Saturdays; watch the whole season live on Sky Sports F1 from February 29, with pre-season testing up first on February 21-23
Thursday 22 February 2024 11:21, UK
Formula 1's race start times have been confirmed for the 2024 season, when the first two grands prix will take place on Saturdays.
The record 24-race season live on Sky Sports F1 starts with back-to-back events in the Middle East in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, with the schedule at both events moved forward a day compared to normal due to the start of Ramadan on the Sunday of the latter Jeddah race week.
That means practice at both events will take place on Thursday, with qualifying on Friday and the Grand Prix on the Saturday.
Bahrain's season-opener on Saturday March 2 starts at 3pm UK time live on Sky Sports F1, with Saudi Arabia's GP under way at 5pm on Saturday March 9. Both events run under floodlights.
Las Vegas in November is the other race in the season that takes place on a Saturday, although the time difference to the west coast in the USA means that it is again an early Sunday morning start for UK viewers.
After concerns were raised by some drivers and team bosses about the late nature of the inaugural Vegas schedule, although the race is again listed for a 10pm local start (6am Sunday UK), the rest of the weekend schedule remains unconfirmed, suggesting that plans for tweaks are afoot. Qualifying started at midnight local time at the inaugural event on the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, for instance.
The full schedule for the six Sprint events - China, Miami, Austria, the United States, Brazil and Qatar - also remains subject to confirmation, with F1's stakeholders meeting in the coming weeks to finalise the format for those weekends which feature the additional 100km Saturday Sprint race.
It is expected that, at the very least, the format will be altered so that the events connected to the Sprint - the Sprint Shootout and then 100km race itself - are placed first in the weekend schedule before qualifying for the Grand Prix and then the full Sunday race itself.
The European races take place at what has become the normal 2pm start time in the UK - with a 3pm local start on home ground at Silverstone on July 7.
Every track session from the 2024 season is live on Sky Sports F1, while pre-season testing in Bahrain is also live from February 21-23.
24 races in 2024! Watch every round of next season live on Sky Sports F1, starting with the Bahrain Grand Prix from February 29-March 2. Stream F1 on Sky Sports with NOW
