The European Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan will start one hour earlier than planned following the local government's decision to abolish daylight savings.
The race has been due to start at 6pm local time, but promoters requested that this be brought forward by one hour to make up for the loss of daylight savings.
With sunset in Baku on June 19 timed for 8:14pm, starting the race at 6pm would have given little time to allow for stoppages that may cause the grand prix to last longer than the usual two hour limit.
In Bahrain on Sunday, it was confirmed that a new start time of 5pm had been approved. However, the start time of 2pm BST/3pm CET remains unchanged for the rest of Europe.
"After fruitful discussions with FOM, we are happy to confirm this new start time which has been taken with the best interest of the fans watching live at our street circuit and on TV, as well as of course the teams and drivers, in mind," a statement read.
"The decision to move the start time forward by an hour will avoid any concerns of driver’s having to race in fading light while it also means that fans watching at home are now just a flick of the television remote away from going straight from the end of 24 Hours of Le Mans to watching the first ever F1 race to be staged in our spectacular city. As sporting Sundays go, we think that’s about as good as it gets!"
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