F1 has revealed he revised start times for the 2021 season, as it also confirms the change of FP1 and FP2 to a 1-hour session each, while Roy Nissany has switched to DAMS in F2.
The 10 minutes bunker time has been removed for 2021, as F1 has confirmed the change to 1-hour Friday practice sessions (FP1 and FP2). Outside of that, the race start time of Russia and Australia have changed from their time in 2020.
The F1 Russian GP started at 14:10 local time in 2020 but in 2021, it will start at 15:00, whereas the Australian GP was to start at 16:10 last year, but the November race this year will take place at 17:00 instead. The new Saudi Arabia race will start at 19:00.
The F1 qualifying start time remains unchanged along with FP2 and FP3 from 2020, but for FP1, it will start half an hour later in 2021 – for all of the rounds. The Saudi Arabia GP’s practice timings are 15:30, 19:00 and 16:00, with qualifying at 19:00 – all in local.
Here’s the full start list of F1 2021, local/GMT:
Roy Nissany switches to DAMS:
Having raced with Trident in 2020, Williams F1 test driver, Nissany, will switch to DAMS in 2021 alongside Ferrari junior Marcus Armstrong in an all-new line-up. The switch is on expected terms after the Israeli tested with them in Bahrain after the season ended.
Nissany and Armstrong replace Carlin-bound Daniel Ticktum and sportscar racing-bounc Sean Gelael. “I’m thrilled to be part of such a highly respected team as DAMS,” he said. “They have an amazing history at this level and a strong reputation in Formula 2, so I’m excited to be joining.
“We have already put some strong work in during last year’s post-season test and I’m looking forward to getting the season underway in March. Hopefully we’ll be fighting at the front of the field. I believe we have a very exciting journey ahead so I’m keen to start.”
Meanwhile, Co-Team Owners Gregory and Olivier Driot added: “We are very happy to welcome Roy to the team for 2021. We have already had the opportunity to work with him during the Bahrain post-season test which went very well and we were pleased with his feedback.
“He gelled with the whole team, especially the engineering staff, so it’s great to see the connection is already in place. Now it’s going to be up to us to provide the best tools for him to fulfil his potential. We are really looking forward to starting this new campaign with Roy and helping him deliver the strong results he deserves.”
2021 F2 line-up so far:
Prema: Robert Shwartzman, Oscar Piastri
Hitech GP: Juri Vips, Liam Lawson
HWA Racelab: Matteo Nannini, Alessio Deledda
UNI-Virtuosi Racing: Felipe Drugovich
Carlin: Jehan Daruvala, Daniel Ticktum
MP Motorsport: Lirim Zendeli
Campos Racing: Ralph Boschung
DAMS: Marcus Armstrong, Roy Nissany
Here’s F1 2020 start times for reference