These Are The Formula 1 2023 Season Start Times

There are 23 races currently scheduled, but there remains the possibility that an extra event can be slotted between the Australian GP on 2 April and the Azerbaijan GP on 30 April to replace the cancelled round in China.

The season begins in Bahrain on 5 March, with the night race beginning at 6 pm local time. This is followed a fortnight later by the Saudi Arabian GP, another night race starting at 8 pm.

That is not the latest start of the year, though, because the new Las Vegas race on Saturday, 18 November, will begin even later.

F1 has agreed to a unique timetable for the race, with practice on Thursday, qualifying on Friday and the race on Saturday at 10 pm. With an eight-hour time difference to the UK, the race will occur from 6 am GMT.

The entire weekend in Vegas will operate to a late timetable, with Thursday’s hour-long practice sessions beginning at 6.30 pm and 10 pm.

Friday’s final free practice session will occur at 6.30 pm, while qualifying will take place at 10 pm that evening. With the sun setting at 4.30 pm that weekend, all the sessions will take place in darkness.

F1’s European races are all scheduled to begin at 3 pm.

The earliest race starts of the season are at 2 pm – for Canada, Japan, Austin, Mexico and Brazil. The timing of the races in the western hemisphere is to help ensure they capture the European television audiences, while the choice for Japan will have been dictated by its early sunset.

The six sprint races scheduled for 2023 have been allocated at different times on Saturdays. They will take place in Azerbaijan (5.30 pm), Austria (4.30 pm), Belgium (4.30 pm), Qatar (5.30 pm), the United States (5 pm), and Brazil (3.30 pm).

After the FIA abandoned efforts to conduct all media activities on Friday mornings at GP weekends, therefore starting track action late, the timings for several FP1s in 2023 have been brought forward by half an hour.

F1 2023 race start times