The FIA has announced the start times for all 24 rounds of the 2024 Formula 1 season. Timings are mostly unchanged from last year, with the Las Vegas Grand Prix retaining its late Saturday night slot.
Session times for the 2024 Formula 1 season have been announced by the FIA. This year’s 24-round F1 season is set to be the longest on record, beginning with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 2 and ending with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, over nine months later, on December 8.
In terms of start times for each round, the schedule is largely unchanged for 2024. On non-Sprint weekends, the three practice sessions will run for one hour each over the first two days of the weekend, before a single hour of qualifying to decide the grid for the Grand Prix. Races mostly run on a Friday to Sunday schedule, though three races will take place on a Saturday in 2024.
The full weekend format for this year’s Sprint weekends is yet to be announced. The FIA has provided only Grand Prix start times for the six race weekends at which the Sprint format will be utilised.
Notably, the Las Vegas Grand Prix will retain its late Saturday night slot in 2024, with the race beginning at 22:00 for a second year in succession. A minor change sees the Miami Grand Prix start on the hour in 2024, as opposed to half past the hour like in the previous two seasons.
F1 Session Times For 2024
The table below shows the starting time for all on-track sessions on the Formula 1 calendar, as revealed by the FIA. Times shown below are track local times.
| Event | Dates | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Qualifying | Race |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix* | Feb 28-Mar 2 | 14:30 | 18:00 | 15:30 | 19:00 | 18:00 |
| 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix* | March 7-9 | 16:30 | 20:00 | 16:30 | 20:00 | 20:00 |
| 2024 Australian Grand Prix | March 21-24 | 12:30 | 16:00 | 12:30 | 16:00 | 15:00 |
| 2024 Japanese Grand Prix | April 5-7 | 11:30 | 15:00 | 11:30 | 15:00 | 14:00 |
| 2024 Chinese Grand Prix | April 19-21 | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | 15:00 |
| 2024 Miami Grand Prix | May 3-5 | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | 16:00 |
| 2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix | May 17-19 | 13:30 | 17:00 | 12:30 | 16:00 | 15:00 |
| 2024 Monaco Grand Prix | May 23-26 | 13:30 | 17:00 | 12:30 | 16:00 | 15:00 |
| 2024 Canadian Grand Prix | June 7-9 | 13:30 | 17:00 | 12:30 | 16:00 | 14:00 |
| 2024 Spanish Grand Prix | June 21-23 | 13:30 | 17:00 | 12:30 | 16:00 | 15:00 |
| 2024 Austrian Grand Prix | June 28-30 | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | 15:00 |
| 2024 British Grand Prix | July 5-7 | 12:30 | 16:00 | 11:30 | 15:00 | 15:00 |
| 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix | July 19-21 | 13:30 | 17:00 | 12:30 | 16:00 | 15:00 |
| 2024 Belgian Grand Prix | July 26-28 | 13:30 | 17:00 | 12:30 | 16:00 | 15:00 |
| 2024 Dutch Grand Prix | August 23-25 | 12:30 | 16:00 | 11:30 | 15:00 | 15:00 |
| 2024 Italian Grand Prix | Aug 30-Sep 1 | 13:30 | 17:00 | 12:30 | 16:00 | 15:00 |
| 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix | September 13-15 | 13:30 | 17:00 | 12:30 | 16:00 | 15:00 |
| 2024 Singapore Grand Prix | September 20-22 | 17:30 | 21:00 | 17:30 | 21:00 | 20:00 |
| 2024 United States Grand Prix | October 18-20 | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | 14:00 |
| 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix** | October 25-27 | 12:30 | 16:00 | 11:30 | 15:00 | 14:00 |
| 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix | November 1-3 | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | 14:00 |
| 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix* | November 21-23 | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | 22:00 |
| 2024 Qatar Grand Prix | Nov 28-Dec 1 | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | 20:00 |
| 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | December 6-8 | 13:30 | 17:00 | 14:30 | 18:00 | 17:00 |
- * Free Practice 1 & 2 take place on Thursday, Free Practice 3 & Qualifying takes place on Friday, Grand Prix takes place on Saturday.
- ** Daylight Saving time ends in UK/Europe on Saturday night/Sunday morning
Las Vegas Retains Late Night Slot
Despite concerns surrounding its unique schedule for its debut appearance last year, the Las Vegas Grand Prix will once again begin at 22:00 for its second appearance on the F1 calendar in 2024. The FIA has announced only the race start time for Vegas’ second appearance, with the session times for all other on-track activities not yet confirmed.
The Las Vegas Grand Prix is one of three on the 2024 Formula 1 calendar which will run on a Thursday to Saturday schedule. The first two races of the year – in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia – will also take place on Saturdays.
Sprint Weekend Format Yet to be Announced
UPDATE: In early February, Formula 1 confirmed a change to the Sprint Weekend format in 2024. Free Practice 1 and qualifying for the Sprint will take place on Friday, the Sprint race will take place before Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday and the main Grand Prix remains on Sunday. Timings for these sessions are yet to be announced.
The 2024 calendar features six Sprint events, with additional 30-minute Saturday races set to take place at the Chinese, Miami, Austrian, United States, Sao Paulo and Qatar Grands Prix. The Sprint format was first introduced in 2021. Three Sprints took place in both 2021 and 2022, with that number increased to six from 2022 onwards.
The exact format for this year’s Sprint events is yet to be announced. Last year, a new 45-minute Sprint Shootout session was introduced to create a separate qualifying session for the stand-alone Sprint race. Previously, the result of the Sprint race decided the grid for the following day’s Grand Prix.
At an F1 Commission meeting in November 2023, there was support for the Sprint format to be updated in 2024, with plans to “further rationalise the weekend by separating Sprint activities from those for the Grand Prix”, with a particular focus on timing and parc ferme regulations.
