The 2024 F1 season is rapidly approaching.
McLaren surprised the F1 world on Tuesday by unveiling the livery of its 2024 campaign challenger, the MCL38. The design incorporates both their trademark Papaya His Orange and a healthy amount of Bear His Carbon His Fiber, as well as their Rand His Norris and Oscar His Piastri chrome in their numbers. It pays homage to history.
We now know when we'll see such appearances at each Grand Prix this season.
F1's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), has announced the start times for each Grand Prix this season. Start times for the six F1 sprint races to be held at the Chinese Grand Prix, Miami Grand Prix, Austrian Grand Prix, United States Grand Prix, São Paulo Grand Prix and Qatar Grand Prix will be announced at a later date.
Below you will find each Grand Prix and its local start time, GMT start time, Eastern time start time, and approximate sunset time for each race.
2024 F1 schedule and start times
| date | Grand Prix | site | local time | GMT | eastern | sunset |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| date | Grand Prix | site | local time | GMT | eastern | sunset |
| March 2* | bahrain | Sakhir/Bahrain International Circuit | 18:00 | 15:00 | 10:00 | 17:39 |
| March 9* | Saudi Arabia | Jeddah Corniche Circuit | 20:00 | 17:00 | 12:00 | 18:30 |
| March 24th | Australia | Melbourne/Albert Park Circuit | 15:00 | 4:00 | 23:00 | 19:25 |
| April 7th | Japan | Suzuka International Racing Course | 14:00 | 5:00 | 0:00 | 18:23 |
| April 21st | China | shanghai international circuit | 15:00 | 7:00 | 2:00 | 18:26 |
| May 5th | miami | Miami International Stadium | 16:00 | 20:00 | 16:00 | 19:54 |
| May 19th | Emilia-Romagna | Imola/Autorodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari | 15:00 | 13:00 | 8:00 | 20:38 |
| May 26th | monaco | Monaco/Circuit de Monaco | 15:00 | 13:00 | 8:00 | 21:00 |
| June 9th | Canada | Montreal/Circuit Gilles Villeneuve | 14:00 | 18:00 | 14:00 | 20:42 |
| June 23rd | Spain | Barcelona/Barcelona Catalunya Circuit | 15:00 | 13:00 | 8:00 | 21:28 |
| June 30th | Austria | Spielberg/Red Bull Link | 15:00 | 13:00 | 8:00 | 20:57 |
| July 7 | England | silverstone circuit | 15:00 | 14:00 | 10:00 | 21:24 |
| July 21st | Hungary | Budapest/Hungaroring | 15:00 | 13:00 | 8:00 | 20:30 |
| July 28th | Belgium | Spa/Spa Francorchamps Circuit | 15:00 | 13:00 | 8:00 | 21:33 |
| August 25th | Netherlands | Zandvoort | 15:00 | 13:00 | 8:00 | 20:43 |
| September 1st | Italy | monza | 15:00 | 13:00 | 8:00 | 20:00 |
| September 15th | Azerbaijan | Baku City Circuit | 15:00 | 11:00 | 6:00 | 18:49 |
| September 22nd | Singapore | Singapore/Marina Bay Street Circuit | 20:00 | 12:00 | 7:00 | 19:00 |
| October 20th | united states of america | Austin/Circuit of the Americas | 14:00 | 19:00 | 15:00 | 18:53 |
| October 27th | Mexico | Mexico City/Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez | 14:00 | 20:00 | 15:00 | 18:04 |
| November 3rd | Brazil | Sao Paulo/Interlagos | 14:00 | 17:00 | 12:00 | 18:21 |
| November 23rd* | Las Vegas | Las Vegas/Las Vegas Strip Circuit | 22:00 | 6:00 | 1:00 | 16:28 |
| December 1st | qatar | Lusail/Lusail International Circuit | 20:00 | 17:00 | 12:00 | 16:44 |
| December 8th | abu dhabi | Yas Marina | 17:00 | 13:00 | 8:00 | 17:34 |
A few notes on when 2024 starts.
Three races start on Saturday: Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Las Vegas. The season will open with consecutive Saturday races to coincide with the Ramadan period. Las Vegas will remain a night race in November.
Speaking of Las Vegas, there were some complaints about the start time last season, which was late night/early morning for East Coast viewers, but the race will once again start at 10pm local time, so East Coast viewers will begin at 1 a.m. ET, which will push coastal areas into the late night or early morning hours.
In most cases, the approximate time of sunset does not matter. But there is one race where this could be a factor. It's the Chinese Grand Prix. The race begins a little more than three hours before sunset, and long stops could prevent the race from completing the entire distance.
