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F1 2024 season starts with Saturday races in Bahrain, Saudi

Formula One's 24-race 2024 season will start with Saturday races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the series confirmed on Wednesday.

The season will kick off with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 2 and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix the following week on March 9.

The two races have been shifted forwards as Ramadan starts the day after the Saudi race, Sunday, March 10.

It also means the race format follows the weekend schedule in the Middle East, which is held Friday-Saturday rather than Saturday-Sunday.

F1 races are traditionally held on a Sunday but 2024 will feature three a day earlier -- the Las Vegas Grand Prix will be held on a Saturday in 2024, as it will be for its inaugural race in November of this year.

One major change to the make-up of the 2024 schedule to 2023 is that Azerbaijan and Japan have swapped ends of the calendar. Japan, which was once the F1 season finale, has now moved from the second half of the year to being the fourth race, between Australia and China.

Azerbaijan's popular Baku race will now form a double header with Singapore in September.

F1's announcement says "the calendar creates a better flow of races in certain regions", but questions will be raised about the human toll of the schedule.

Australia, Japan and China are on the schedule as three standalone out-and-back trips, a brutal prospect for teams, all 10 of which are based in Europe.

The season will also end with two triple headers spanning multiple continents -- Austin's U.S. GP, Mexico and Brazil first, followed by Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Spain has also dropped deeper into the year, forming a triple header with Austria and Great Britain during the European leg.

The status of the Chinese Grand Prix will be a question mark, as it has not hosted a race since 2019 due to Covid-19.

If that race goes ahead and F1 avoids any other cancellations the season will feature a record 24 races, the most currently allowed under the regulations.

The season will end at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 8, which has been the finale every year since 2014.

The calendar in full:

March 2 - Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir

March 9 - Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Jeddah

March 24 - Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne

April 7 - Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka

April 21 - Chinese Grand Prix - Shanghai

May 5 - Miami Grand Prix - Miami

May 19 - Emilia Romagna Grand Prix - Imola

May 26 - Monaco Grand Prix - Monaco

June 9 - Canadian Grand Prix - Montreal

June 23 - Spanish Grand Prix - Barcelona

June 30 - Austrian Grand Prix - Spielberg

July 7 - British Grand Prix - Silverstone

July 21 - Hungarian Grand Prix - Budapest

July 28 - Belgian Grand Prix - Spa-Francorchamps

August 25 - Dutch Grand Prix - Zandvoort

September 1 - Italian Grand Prix - Monza

September 15 - Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Baku

September 22 - Singapore Grand Prix - Marina Bay

October 20 - U.S. Grand Prix - Austin

October 27 - Mexican Grand Prix - Mexico City

November 3 - Sao Paulo Grand Prix - Sao Paulo

November 23 - Las Vegas Grand Prix - Las Vegas

December 1 - Qatar Grand Prix - Losail

December 8 - Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Yas Marina