Five races this season, including the season opener in Australia, will start an hour earlier than their usual start time following Jules Bianchi’s accident.
Also on the list are Malaysia, China, Japan and Russia. These five races often have an evening start time to make it more convenient for European audiences.
However, in the wake of Bianchi’s crash in Japan, the FIA’s accident panel recommended no races start within four hours of dusk or sunset, unless they are floodlit races.
Therefore the opening race in Australia will now start at 4pm local time (5am GMT), with Malaysia starting at 3pm (7am GMT), China moving to 2pm (6am GMT), as will both Japan and Russia (5am GMT and 11am GMT respectively).
