Las Vegas GP will demand a brutal sacrifice from European fans

The FIA announced the start times and dates for the 2026 season and some changes such as the Canadian Grand Prix suffering a two-hour delay to avoid programming clash with the Indy 500, and the Azerbaijan GP being moved ahead by one day due to a national mourning day, have sparked curiosity.

Nevertheless, the Las Vegas Grand Prix represents the only race weekend to have undergone a sensible time change which puts F1 fans between a rock and a hard place.

The race, since its addition to the F1 calendar in 2023, had been run at midnight local Pacific Standard time. Nevertheless, following conversations with the city to leave a more subtle mark during the series' stay in Sin City, the solution has been found: push the race forward.

The race is not set for an 08:00PM local start time. With the difference between PST and CET and UK times at 8 and 7 hours respectively, that means fans in Central Europe are due to set their alarm clocks at 4AM if they wish to watch the race live.

For fans in the UK it is an even tougher ask, as they will have to wake up as early as 3AM to witness the very late, and probably very enthralling race around the streets of Las Vegas.

For a deeper dive into the weekend’s developments, including Red Bull’s floor upgrade and Verstappen’s dominant win, GPblog’s own podcast team brings the latest insights twice a week.

Thierry Bakker, Gandor Bronkhorst and Tim Kraaij sit at the bar to discuss the newest F1 stories, while during race weekends Tim and Jim Kimberley cover the hottest paddock news. Watch the latest episodes on YouTube or your favourite podcast app, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an update.