Bahrain GP forced to be moved to unusual date due to little-known F1 rule

The Formula 1 season kicks off with the Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend - but it won't quite take place how fans are used to.

Traditionally, F1 races take place on a Sunday, a practice which dates back to the inaugural season in 1950.

There have been rare occasions where that hasn't happened, while the British Grand Prix was always held on a Saturday at Silverstone until the 1976 season.

The 1982 Dutch Grand Prix, meanwhile, had to be moved to a Saturday to avoid a clash with that summer's football World Cup matches.

In recent years, though, the practice hasn't been too common - although last season's Las Vegas Grand Prix took place on Saturday night in Pacific Standard Time (PST).

This season, the season opener at Bahrain will also take place on a Saturday. However, it has nothing to do with the FIA's current regulations for sprint races, as some fans may have originally thought.

Instead, it is down to the following week's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which will also take place on a Saturday at the Jeddah International Circuit.

The reason for that particular change is because the race was initially scheduled to clash with the first day of Ramadan, which is on Sunday, March 10.

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And FIA rules state that there must be a period of seven days between each organised Grand Prix, meaning that the Bahrain Grand Prix had to be moved back a day too.

As a result, the opening two practice sessions in Bahrain will take place on Thursday, with third practice and then qualifying taking place across Friday.

It's then lights out and away we go on Saturday evening, as Red Bull's Max Verstappen looks to get his quest for a fourth world title off to the ideal start amid competition from the likes of Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris.