The Formula 1 World Championship Organizing Committee announced on Wednesday the schedule for next year’s races, which will include 24 races, with 3 races to be held on Saturday, among several other changes that will be witnessed in the next season of the competition.
The season is scheduled to start on March 2, 2024, with the Bahrain Grand Prix, and will conclude with the Emirates Grand Prix on December 8 of next year in the capital, Abu Dhabi.
For the first time since 1985, the next season will witness the holding of a Grand Prix race on a day other than Sunday, including the Las Vegas Grand Prix on November 18, 2024, which will be among the 3 races that will be held on Saturday, with the Bahrain and Saudi races as well.
And it was decided to take this decision to avoid holding the Saudi Grand Prix during the month of Ramadan on Sunday, corresponding to the tenth of next March, one day after the Saudi race.
And the dates of 3 other races were changed during the next year, as the organizing committee of the championship plans to “move towards a greater regionalization of the calendar, reduce logistical burdens and make the season more sustainable.”
The Japanese Grand Prix was rescheduled from September to April, and teams will now travel from Australia to Japan and on to China to “improve travel conditions”.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix moves from April to September, before the next race is held in Singapore, while the Qatar Grand Prix moves from October to the weekend in December, after the Las Vegas Prix and before the start of the Abu Dhabi race.
“We want to make the global Formula 1 landscape more environmentally sustainable and more accessible to the people who keep traveling as they dedicate so much of their time to our sport,” said Mohammed bin Sulayem, President of the International Automobile Federation (FIA).
The traditional summer break period will remain extended to three weeks in August and drivers will be given an extra three-week break between September and October.
It is noteworthy that the Formula-1 Organizing Committee had hoped to hold 24 races in the current season, but this was not possible due to the cancellation of the Chinese Grand Prix in light of the restrictions of Covid-19 disease, and it was also decided to cancel the Italian Prix earlier this year. Because of the floods suffered by the country.
