FIA announces official start times of Grands Prix weekends in 2023
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Besides the official 2023 entry list, including the starting numbers of Formula 1 drivers, the FIA has also announced the full timetables of all Grands Prix weekends for next year. The Las Vegas Grand Prix, in particular, has a unique schedule.
There are still 23 races on the calendar, although F1 is still looking for a replacement for the China Grand Prix. This race was scheduled for 16 April, but cannot take place due to the still strict Covid measures in the country.
The weekend format will remain the same in 2023. Most of the races in Europe will start at 15:00 local time with qualifying at 16:00 local time. The opening race in Bahrain will start at 15:00 UK time on 5 March. The number of sprint races has doubled in 2023. These will be run at different times on Saturday.
F1 Las Vegas timetable
The Las Vegas Grand Prix has a unique timetable. In fact, free practice will take place on Thursday, while qualifying will be held on Friday and the race on Saturday night at 22:00 local time. Due to the time difference, this Grand Prix will therefore start at 06:00 UK time on Sunday morning. All sessions in Las Vegas will take place in the dark.
In 2022, the FIA decided to move all media activities from Thursday to Friday morning to give drivers more free time during the week. However, the format proved not to work, so for 2023 the activities have been moved back to Thursdays for the whole season. This allows the first free practice sessions to start half an hour earlier on Friday.
