Skip to main content

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Recommended for you

What Red Bull's succession plans for Lambiase and Marko reveal about team's F1 future

Formula 1
Belgian GP
What Red Bull's succession plans for Lambiase and Marko reveal about team's F1 future

Mercedes "struggling to understand" Russell's deployment issues in F1 2026

Formula 1
Belgian GP
Mercedes "struggling to understand" Russell's deployment issues in F1 2026

The expectation on Aston Martin's shoulders as it prepares to debut its Hungarian GP updates

Feature
Formula 1
Belgian GP
The expectation on Aston Martin's shoulders as it prepares to debut its Hungarian GP updates

Quartararo's move to Honda for MotoGP 2027 has been confirmed

MotoGP
Quartararo's move to Honda for MotoGP 2027 has been confirmed

Honda signs Moto2 frontrunner Alonso for 2027

MotoGP
Honda signs Moto2 frontrunner Alonso for 2027

The new strengths Antonelli has shown in F1, 12 months on from 'reaching the bottom'

Formula 1
Belgian GP
The new strengths Antonelli has shown in F1, 12 months on from 'reaching the bottom'

How Estonia crowned Pajari as the WRC’s new flying Finn

Feature
WRC
Rally Estonia
How Estonia crowned Pajari as the WRC’s new flying Finn

What we can learn from Mercedes' floor after Russell's Belgian GP retirement

Formula 1
Belgian GP
What we can learn from Mercedes' floor after Russell's Belgian GP retirement

Formula 1 alters grand prix start times after Jules Bianchi crash

Formula 1 chiefs have shifted the start times of five grands prix for 2015 as a result of the lessons learned from Jules Bianchi's Japanese Grand Prix crash last year

The investigation panel that looked into the circumstances surrounding Bianchi's Suzuka accident recommended that future daytime F1 races should not start when there is a risk of running in fading light conditions.

It stated: "It is proposed that a regulation or guideline be established such that the start time of an event shall not be less than four hours before either sunset or dusk, except in the case of night races."

Although no change to the rules was put in place - with the FIA comfortable that it would never allow races to continue when it felt it was too dark - there has still been a tweak to several start times to avoid the risk of trouble.

The times for Australia (now 4pm), Malaysia (3pm), China (2pm), Japan (2pm) and Russia (2pm) are all one hour earlier than they were in 2014.

All the events had previously run later because of a desire to ensure that they were broadcast at a time more suitable for European television audiences.

Bianchi remains in hospital in France as the result of the serious head injuries he sustained when he struck a recovery vehicle that was retrieving Adrian Sutil's Sauber.

The start times of all the 2015 races are:

15/03 Australia: 16:00 (UK: 05:00)
29/03 Malaysia: 15:00 (UK: 08:00)
12/04 China: 14:00 (UK: 07:00)
19/04 Bahrain: 18:00 (UK: 16:00)
10/05 Spain: 14:00 (UK: 13:00)
24/05 Monaco: 14:00 (UK: 13:00)
07/06 Canada: 14:00 (UK: 19:00)
21/06 Austria: 14:00 (UK: 13:00)
05/07 Britain: 13:00
19/07 Germany: 14:00 (UK: 13:00)
26/07 Hungary: 14:00 (UK: 13:00)
23/08 Belgium: 14:00 (UK: 13:00)
06/09 Italy: 14:00 (UK: 13:00)
20/09 Singapore: 20:00 (UK: 13:00)
27/09 Japan: 14:00 (UK: 06:00)
11/10 Russia: 14:00 (UK: 12:00)
25/10 United States: 14:00 (UK: 19:00)
01/11 Mexico: 13:00 (UK: 19:00)
15/11 Brazil: 14:00 (UK: 16:00)
29/11 Abu Dhabi: 17:00 (UK: 13:00)

Previous article Is Verstappen really ready for F1?
Next article New Force India F1 car will not run at first Jerez test

Top Comments

Latest news