When will the 2024 Formula 1 season start?

The 2024 Formula 1 season will start with the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday 2nd, March. The F1 calendar features a record-breaking 24 races, with the first two Grands Prix taking place on a Saturday to accommodate Ramadan. The season finishes on December 8 in Abu Dhabi. 

When will the 2024 Formula 1 season start?

Pre-season testing for the 2024 season is yet to be confirmed, but Formula 1 cars will roll out of the garage during a Grand Prix weekend for the first time on Thursday, February 29th. It is not yet confirmed whether this event will be a sprint weekend, but the first free practice session will take place on this date regardless.

The race itself will then take place on Saturday, 2nd March. This will then become the second race to take place on a Saturday, following the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix, though in Europe, the American race will be on Sunday morning. To see the full 2024 F1 calendar, click here.

This will be the fourth consecutive year that Bahrain has hosted the first Grand Prix of the season. It worked well with the schedule in 2023 because pre-season testing was held at the same venue a week earlier. It seems likely that this will be the case again in 2024. It will be the earliest start to a Formula 1 season since the 1992 South African Grand Prix won by Nigel Mansell, though the second race in the same season didn't take place until three weeks after.