Revealed: F1 2024 calendar announced with brand-new Saturday races

Oliver Harden 05 Jul 2023 2:35 PM

Max Verstappen leads the start of the Canadian Grand Prix. Montreal June 2023. — Max Verstappen holds the lead ahead of Fernando Alonso heading into Turn 1. Montreal June 2023.

Bahrain has seen off Saudi Arabia to retain its place as Formula 1 season opener from next year after a record 24-race F1 calendar for the 2024 season was announced on Wednesday.

The first two races of next year will take place on a Saturday to accommodate the Islamic festival of Ramadan, following a trend set by the new Las Vegas Grand Prix which is set to be staged on a Saturday night this November.

Having held its inaugural event as the penultimate round of the iconic 2021 season, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix had already switched to an early-season slot for 2022/23 but the organisers of the Jeddah-based event were open about their desire to secure season-opening status.

Bahrain keeps F1 calendar slot despite Saudi speculation

Ahead of the third edition of the race back in March, Prince Khalid Bin Sultan Abdullah Al-Faisal, the chairman of the Saudi Motorsport Company, claimed Saudi Arabia would “love” to host the opening race and expressed his wish to stage the grand prix well in advance of the start of Ramadan.

Although Saudi Arabia had been widely expected to take the season-opening slot, it has now been confirmed that Bahrain will host the first race for a fourth straight year on March 2 with Saudi Arabia following a week later on March 9.

The 2024 campaign will conclude in traditional style with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, scheduled for December 8, as the final part of a triple header with Las Vegas and Qatar.

In fact, the season will finish with two separate triple headers with the United States, Mexico and Brazilian rounds taking place in quick succession in October/November.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Grand Prix is set to finally return in 2024 after a five-year absence since the Shanghai circuit memorably hosted F1’s 1,000th race celebrations in 2019.

The race had originally been set to return in 2023, but was cancelled last December due to Covid-19 restrictions and will return to its traditional slot on April 21.

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The Chinese round will come two weeks after the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, which has been switched from its traditional October slot to host the fourth round of the season on April 7.

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix is another big mover and will effectively swap places with Japan, switching from April to become the first part of a September double-header with Singapore.

The full calendar reads as follows:

March 2: Bahrain

March 9: Saudi Arabia

March 24: Australia

April 7: Japan

April 21: China

May 5: Miami

May 19: Emilia Romagna

May 26: Monaco

June 9: Canada

June 23: Spain

June 30: Austria