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Five races to start earlier in 2015
The season-opening Australian Grand Prix is among five races which will start an hour earlier than planned as race bosses react to Jules Bianchi's crash in Japan last year.
Last week it was reported Malaysian Grand Prix race organisers wanted to start the race an hour earlier and that has been confirmed on a document released by Formula One Management (FOM), with the list confirming Australia, China, Japan and Russia have followed suit. In previous years races in Asia, along with the curtain-raiser in Australia, have started in late mid-afternoon slots to make viewing more convenient for F1's core European TV audience.
But change has been triggered by the serious crash suffered by Marussia driver Bianchi at last year's Japanese Grand Prix, when the Frenchman slid off the road in worsening rain and fading light and into a recovery vehicle. The FIA's accident panel which looked into the crash suggested a new four-hour rule, which would ensure a race would not start within four hours of dusk or sunset to ensure similar conditions having an impact on safety in the future.
2015 race start times:
Australian Grand Prix 1600 (0500 GMT) Malaysian Grand Prix 1500 (0800 GMT) Chinese Grand Prix 1400 (0700 GMT) Bahrain Grand Prix 1800 (1600 GMT) Spanish Grand Prix 1400 (1300 GMT) Monaco Grand Prix 1400 (1300 GMT) Canadian Grand Prix 1400 (1900 GMT) Austrian Grand Prix 1400 (1300 GMT) British Grand Prix 1300 German Grand Prix 1400 (1300 GMT) Hungarian Grand Prix 1400 (1300 GMT) Belgian Grand Prix 1400 (1300 GMT) Italian Grand Prix 1400 (1300 GMT) Singapore Grand Prix 2000 (1300 GMT) Japanese Grand Prix 1400 (0600 GMT) Russian Grand Prix 1400 (1200 GMT) United States Grand Prix 1400 (1900 GMT) Mexican Grand Prix 1300 (1900 GMT) Brazilian Grand Prix 1400 (1600 GMT) Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 1700 (1300 GMT)
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