Why will Formula 1 have the first two races of 2024 on Saturdays instead of Sundays?
The first two races of the F1 2024 will be an anomaly when considering the rest of the Grands Prix confirmed to take place on Sundays according to the FIA calendar.
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2023 Formula One Championship standings after Qatar GP. (Image via IMAGO)
The Formula 1 2024 season is right around the corner and fans are anticipating a massive showdown at the very first Grand Prix of the year. As the F1 circus has already reached Bahrain in the middle-east to kick into gear their preparations for the upcoming season opener, a peculiar thing about the scheduling of it has caught the fans’ eye. It is the fact that both the Bahrain GP as well as the Saudi Arabian GP in Jeddah will be held on Saturdays instead of the usual Sundays that fans are accustomed to watching F1 races on.
Ever since the F1 2023 season had ended with Max Verstappen being crowned a third-time World Champion and Red Bull becoming the Constructors’ Championship winners, the fans had had to endure a long winter break. But now, their wait is over as this weekend will mark the first of many to come when F1 races will take place as per the FIA calendar. However, the first two races will take place on Saturdays in order to respect the religious customs of the host nations Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
In the Islamic world, the holy month of Ramadan is considered as a a key religious holiday for the Muslims. This time, Ramadan is set to take place from March 10 — a Sunday. During this month, the people who will be celebrating Ramadan will have to maintain a fast for an entire month between sunrise and sunset and participate in daily prayer. Hence, scheduling the Saudi GP on Sunday would have made it clash with the start of Ramadan, and this led to the race being preponed by 1 day. But the Bahrain GP had to be rescheduled too since the FIA regulations require a seven-day gap between each Grand Prix event.
Which other 2024 F1 Grand Prix will be held on a Saturday instead of Sunday?
While the scheduling of Grands Prix on Saturdays is quite an anomaly got the entire Formula 1 world, this year will be seeing three such examples where the races will be held on Saturdays instead of Sundays. The first two races of the year have been rescheduled to Saturdays out of respect for Ramadan. But another racer has also been set for a Saturday occurence in November–the second edition of the Las Vegas GP.
Last year, the Las Vegas GP was organized with enormous budget expenditure by the FIA and the FOM as it turned out to be an entertainment extravaganza for the fans. Following up the success of the Vegas race this year will be quite a task for the stakeholders. And they have decided to keep the race on a Saturday because of time differences around the world.
In other news, the recent shoking headline that has surprised many in the F1 world is the reports on Red Bull’s investigation into their Team Boss Christian Horner. The Briton was allowed to walk away scot-free as the team claimed they have dismissed all grievances against him in an official statement. However, the process has not been transparent as Red Bull refused to make their investigation report on Horner public in order to protect the interests of the people involved.
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Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)