Two Saturday races as Formula One announces 2024 schedule

Formula One on Wednesday announced a 24-race-schedule for the 2024 season opening with two that will be raced on Saturdays.

The Bahrain and Saudi Arabia races will be held on Saturdays to accommodate Ramadan.

Formula One will hope for better luck next year as they had scheduled a record 24 races this season, but China was cancelled in April due to Covid restrictions.

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Italy was to be hosted in Imola but had to be called off days before the race after severe flooding hit the region.

Both are on the calendar for next year when the season will start in February and end in December.

The Belgian Grand Prix at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit, once threatened by the emergence of new, more lucrative, venues, has been retained.

Formula One also shuffled several races as it moved to what it called “towards greater calendar regionalisation, reducing logistical burdens and making the season more sustainable.”

Japan has been brought forward to April and Azerbaijan shifted back to September with Qatar moved to just before the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi in early December.

“This calendar creates a better flow of races in certain regions,” said Formula One on its web site, before adding it was “being realistic to the fact that as a world championship, with climatic and contractual constraints, there will always be travel required that cannot be completely regionalised.”