The 2022 F1 calendar will be the largest ever with 23 grand prix, starting on 20 March in Bahrain and finishing exactly eight months later on 20 November in Abu Dhabi.
As part of F1’s bid to reduce a grand prix weekend to three days by scrapping Thursday’s media day, Friday’s free practice sessions will be held later in the day to accommodate media activities in the morning.
That means FP1 will move from 11:30am local time at most races to either 1:00pm or 2:00pm.
In most cases second free practice will move from its usual 3:00pm local slot to the late afternoon, starting at 5:00pm local on least half of the 23 race weekends.
On Saturdays both FP3 and qualifying are also moving up by one hour at most events, a typical European GP weekend now hosting FP3 at 1:00pm followed by qualifying at 4:00pm.
There is no dramatic shift of race start times on Sunday. As was the case last year, almost all grands prix will continue to start on the hour, after starting 10 minutes past the hour for several years.
The inaugural Miami Grand Prix, the only newcomer on the schedule on 8 May, will go green at 3:30pm local time or 7:30pm GMT, the only race not to start on the hour.
The returning Singapore Grand Prix starts at 12:00pm GMT on 2 October, with the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka commencing at 05:00am GMT one week later on its return after a two-year absence.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF90, and Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W10, lead the field away at the start
Photo by: Joe Portlock / Motorsport Images
The season will officially commence with Bahrain Grand Prix FP1 on 18 March at 3:00pm local time or noon GMT.
The detailed 2022 schedule did not provide any further details on F1’s sprint experiment, which is set to continue after a three-race debut in 2021.
After F1’s original plan to expand sprint events to six grands prix was met with resistance from the teams over the financial compensation involved, F1 has offered a compromise of holding sprint races at just three grands prix in 2022.
* Daylight Saving time starts in the UK/Europe on Saturday night/Sunday morning
** Daylight Saving time ends in UK/Europe AND Mexico on Saturday night/Sunday morning
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