When does the 2024 Formula 2 season start?

The 2024 Formula 2 season will start during the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix weekend. This takes place between February 29 and March 2. F2 will join F3 and F1 during the weekend, which marks the kickstart to the season.

The reason is Ramadan. The annual fasting period for Muslims in 2024 starts on Sunday, March 10, as soon as the sun sets. It has therefore been chosen by the organisers of F1 to ensure that Saudi Arabia's Grand Prix weekend (the second GP) ends as early as Saturday. Saudi Arabia is, after all, an Islamic country.

Consequences for Bahrain are in place. The fact that the weekend at the Jeddah Corniche ends on Saturday means that the first two free practice sessions will already take place on Thursday. This also has a direct impact on the opening weekend in Bahrain, which is scheduled a week earlier than Saudi Arabia.

Teams always arrive at the circuit on Wednesday at the earliest, on a normal race weekend. But because the free practice sessions in Jeddah are already on Thursday, all teams will need/want to be there on Tuesday. That is logistically unfeasible if there is still racing in Bahrain on Sunday. So the race there will also be on Saturday, allowing more time to move the whole circus to Saudi Arabia.