F1 News: Huge Calendar Change Coming To 2024 Formula One Season

F1 journalist Joe Saward has revealed that the first two races of the 2024 season will be held on Saturday evenings rather than the usual Sunday race.

The 2024 season is likely to begin with the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix races, however, the calendar has not bee confirmed yet.

In his "Green Notebook" piece on his website, Saward explains the changes. He writes:

"The big thing that no-one has talked about yet is that the first two races of the year will be held on Saturday nights, rather than on the Sunday afternoons.

"This makes a lot of sense for the local organisers as in the Islamic world the “weekend” usually means Friday and Saturday, rather than the Western Saturday-Sunday. In the Arab world Sunday is a working day.

"The change is not due to this, however, but rather because of Ramadan, which is the period of religious devotion that makes it incompatible with Formula 1 racing."

The inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix later this year will also be held on the Saturday evening, so will run from Thursday instead of Friday. Saward continues in his column:

"Having races on Saturdays is not a new idea as the British GP, for example, was held on a Saturday until 1983 because religious types thought God would be offended by racing cars.

"I cannot say I understand why this would be the case and nowhere in the Bible (that I know of) says racing cars are a bad thing… Still, religion often moves in mysterious ways."

The next important F1 date is the 30th June - 2nd July for the Austrian Grand Prix.

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