F1 races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia could move to Saturday permanently
This year’s Bahrain GP and Saudi GP, both won by Max Verstappen, took place on a Saturday due to Ramadan
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Your support makes all the difference.Executives of the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix have raised the prospect of their races being staged on a Saturday permanently after the “jackpot” success of this year’s events.
The opening races of the 2024 Formula 1 season took place on a Saturday this year, due to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan starting on Sunday 10 March.
To avoid a clash, the race in Jeddah was brought forward a day to 9 March, and as per FIA rules which dictate a minimum of seven days between races, the season-opener in Bahrain was on Saturday 2 March.
With qualifying therefore moving to Friday, Bahrain GP CEO Sheikh Salman bin Isa al-Khalifa commented that the sold-out success of the Friday-Saturday combination could result in talks with F1 chief Stefano Domenicali over a permanent move.
This train of thought was echoed by Saudi GP CEO Martin Whitaker, who confirmed that talks with Domenicali over the future scheduling of the event had taken place.
Asked if the Jeddah race could move permanently to a Saturday, Whitaker told RacingNews365: “Absolutely. We’ve actually had this conversation. My chairman, Prince Khalid, spoke with Sheikh Salman and Stefano in Bahrain on this very point.
"It’s a good idea. The teams find it easier, it’s good for them, with a lot of the personnel back home on Sunday.
"That’s one of the beauties of being in the Middle East in that you can get a flight at two o’clock in the morning and be at Heathrow at six o’clock, or Paris, or wherever you want to go to in Europe.”
Whitaker added that Bahrain was a “jackpot” success in terms of numbers, with 100,000 attending the three days of the race in Sakhir and a record race-day total of 37,000.
"There are a huge number of benefits in running the event on the weekend of the country,” Whitaker added.
“I think we’ve got something which could work, and there’s no doubt, looking at Bahrain this year, I’m absolutely convinced by that.
"I’m sure Sheikh Salman will tell you this, but that race was the success it was, and I suspect they hit the jackpot in terms of the numbers, because of the weekend issue."
Max Verstappen won the opening two races with ease as Red Bull continue their dominant form. The next race of the 2024 season takes place at Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia next weekend (22-24 March).
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