Analysis - Takeaways from the 2024 F1 calendar
Formula One and FIA have today revealed the calendar for the 2024 Formula One season. F1Technical’s senior writer Balázs Szabó highlights the key takeaways from the 2024 schedule
Only nine races have taken place so far in 2023, but FIA and Formula 1 have already announced the calendar for the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship, approved by the World Motor Sport Council.
Long schedule - The calendar features 24 races and begins in Bahrain on March 2 and finishes in Abu Dhabi on December 8, two weeks later than the current 2023 F1 season concludes.
Another attempt – The 2024 F1 calendar is set to feature a record-breaking schedule as it incorporates a total of 24 races. Although the current season was set to sport the same number of rounds, the cancellation of the Chinese and Emilia Romagna Grands Prix meant that the current championship is being contested over 22 rounds.
First China was cancelled due to Covid-19-related uncertainty then, just days beforehand, Emilia-Romagna also dropped off due to the terrible flooding in the Italian region. In 2024, the sport will again attempt a 24-race schedule which, if completed, would be a record number of grands prix.
Regionalisation - Formula 1 has been eager to move towards greater calendar regionalisation, reducing logistical burdens and making the season more sustainable. F1 has attempted to group together events in nearby locations to minimise travelling and logistics.
By moving Japan to April, Azerbaijan to September and Qatar back-to-back with Abu Dhabi this calendar creates a better flow of races in certain regions.
The sport stated that “work will continue while being realistic to the fact that as a world championship, with climactic and contractual constraints, there will always be travel required that cannot be completely regionalised.”
Saturday races – This year will see the return of Saturday races with the Las Vegas Grand Prix set to become the first F1 round to take place on a Saturday since 1985 South African Grand Prix at Kyalami.
Sundays have long been a traditional day for staging grands prix, albeit Saturday races were not unusual earlier. The first ever F1 race, the 1950 British Grand Prix also took place on Saturday.
In total, 73 F1 races were staged on a day other than Sunday with the famous point-scoring Indianapolis 500 races having been held on each day of the week over the years. Moreover, Dutch, South African and Spanish Grands Prix have also taken place on a day other than Sunday, including Saturday and Monday.
Next year’s schedule is set to sport three Saturday races. Alongside the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the opening two races in Manama and Jeddah will take place on Saturday evening on March 2 and March 9 respectively, to enable F1 to complete these grands prix before Ramadan commences.
In fact, Ramadan that is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting, prayer, reflection, and community, begins only on Sunday March 10, on the original day of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, but the sport moved the race forward by a day. However, with the Bahrain round just one week earlier, the turnaround would be too tight logistically if its race was on the Sunday.
More breaks – August usually features a three-week break between the Hungarian and the Belgian Grand Prix. This year the August break will commence right after the Belgian Grand Prix that has been moved forward by a month and will end with the Dutch Grand Prix. The same is scheduled for 2024, but there will be another three-week gap between Singapore (September 24) and Austin (October 20).
Intense schedule – The Spanish, Austrian, British Grands Prix will comprise the first triple-header of the season with two other triple-headers following suit over the course of the season. The second one will commence in Texas, followed by the races in Mexico and Brazil on the following two weekends.
The third triple-header will be made up by the Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix, bringing the season to a close on 8 December.
Pre-season testing - Pre-season testing in Manama will be February 21-23. That’s one week before the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix in the same location.
