Bahrain, Saudi and Las Vegas GP to be held on Saturday this year

#1

Didn't spot it until today. Saudi Arabia has been moved back one day to the Saturday because of Ramadan. Since that would give one less day between that and the previous weekend's race at Bahrain, Bahrain has been moved back to Saturday too. Meanwhile Las Vegas will be on the Saturday to maximise the possible TV audience.

I have to say, all three suit me just fine.

F1 races held on days other than Sunday must be a rarity?

#2

PTRACER wrote: ↑3 months ago F1 races held on days other than Sunday must be a rarity?

Not anymore!

Everso Biggyballies · #3

PTRACER wrote: ↑3 months ago F1 races held on days other than Sunday must be a rarity?

Actually races that were not held on a Sunday covers 73 races (74 including Vegas last year)

Rare-ish but going back to the roots.... the first ever (WDC) GP Silverstone 1950 was on a Saturday too.
In fact early British GPs were run on Saturday by law. Cant have races upsetting the SUnday Church goers! Actually I think it was something to do with Professional Sports held on a Sunday were seen as a bit of a No No. League Football matches were never held on a Sunday back then. That and AFAIK it was illegal to charge admission to a Sporting event on a Sunday The British GP was held on a Saturday always, until (including)1975. 1976 was the first Sunday British GP.

I might. be wrong on this point but I think they got round the Sport on Sunday thing by making events entry by programme. Cant remember if it was GPs (but certainly general Sunday races and other Sunday held events. You paid for the programme, which gave you free admission. So in effect not an admission charge. Of course programmes were more than just a schedule of times but had additional info entry lists, areas to record times lap charts etc. In effect they were priced to cover the price of admission but it was a loophole in the law as the programmes always stated Free admission with programme..

Actually we have had races during the week as well, Not only during the week but EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK HAS HELD A GP / CHAMPIONSHIP RACE

A lot of them would be Indy 500s, Traditionally I belieethe Indy 500 was run on 30 May, regardless of the day of the week, .....if that fell on a Sunday then cars would race the next day. Also of course weather there was also influential. Im Sure @Michael Ferner will have more knowledge than I on that Indy situation.

Caesars Palace were both run on Saturdays,

The South African GP was more than once scheduled for a Monday Also a Friday. 1965 SAGP was on a Friday (OK both were Jan 1, New Years Day, a public holiday)

Early Dutch GPs were often held on a Monday (1958, '60. '61) I think this MIGHT have been to do with it on those years being the weekend following Monaco and logistically it was impossible back then to get car rebuilt and refurbed and back to Holland for Thursday practice. I know the UK cars would be flown from Monaco to the UK to be rebuilt and readied, then they were shipped to Calais or one of the French ports closest to Dover. By the time they got there the trucks had driven from Monaco to the port, picked up their refreshed cars and drove onto Zandvoort to set up on Thursday for Friday practice.

The last Saturday race prior to Vegas last year was South Africa in 1985.

I wont list all the non Sunday races, but will list the first everyday of the week ones.

1950 British Grand Prix Saturday

1950 Indianapolis 500 Tuesday

1951 Indianapolis 500 Wednesday

1952 Indianapolis 500 Friday

1957 Indianapolis 500 Thursday

1958 Dutch Grand Prix Monday

Full list of non Sunday races with winners is in the spoiler

EB · #4

Non Sunday races have been a plentiful source of quiz questions for me for ages!

Indy was basically never on a Sunday, until they went full 180 in 1974.

#5

I knew Chris wouldn't disappoint us with all the facts!

Everso Biggyballies · #6

EB wrote: ↑3 months ago Non Sunday races have been a plentiful source of quiz questions for me for ages!

Indy was basically never on a Sunday, until they went full 180 in 1974.

I was going to mention you as a source of Indy info, but held back on the basis I was sure how frequently you visit TFL. I know Michael is here daily so chose him.

Sods law jumped in and you showed how flawed my thinking was by posting the more detailed confirmation of my vague thoughts, all within an hour or so of my post!

Re the quiz questions angle that was my immediate thought.... a bucketload of potential trivia questions there.

Michael Ferner · #7

The Monday Dutch GPs were held on Whit Monday, nothing to do with shipping cars, just taking advantage of holidays. Like many events on Good Friday, Easter Monday, or any other Bank Holiday in Britain. May 1 is a holiday in many countries, and I think the Spanish GP was held on that date, at least once. May 3 is a holiday in Japan, and was the traditional date for the Japanese GP for many years. And yes, Memorial Day is a traditional racing date in the US, along with Labor Day and Independence Day, all three always chockfull of race meetings.

Everso Biggyballies · #8

Michael Ferner wrote: ↑3 months ago The Monday Dutch GPs were held on Whit Monday, nothing to do with shipping cars, just taking advantage of holidays. Like many events on Good Friday, Easter Monday, or any other Bank Holiday in Britain. May 1 is a holiday in many countries, and I think the Spanish GP was held on that date, at least once. May 3 is a holiday in Japan, and was the traditional date for the Japanese GP for many years. And yes, Memorial Day is a traditional racing date in the US, along with Labor Day and Independence Day, all three always chockfull of race meetings.

Yes I thought there must have been a more commercial reason why the race was on Monday as a holiday, thinking no one wouid have attended being a work day, so thanks for confirming the Monday reason.

However given the time restraints, the travel and fettling of cars, I checked my source (Denis Jenkinson, see below) and it did involve some of the UK cars being flown to the UK for work and then back to Calais. Maybe cars that needed repairs and more than a routine prep. Ferrrari went back to Marinello in between and some teams, certainly Lotus and Cooper did travel direct from Monaco to Zandvoort.

Denis Jenkinson in his Motor Sport race report wrote of how some cars were flown back to the UK and then back to Calais to be collected by their trucks who in the meantime had driven up from Monaco.

I guess the fact that the Dutch race following Monaco being on the Monday allowed the teams that so wished (and had the money) the flexibility to do the airfreight thing as opposed to forcing them as I perhaps unintentionally implied.

I did also make an error on the days. I thought practice was on the Friday at Zandvoort which is incorrect. It was Saturday with official practice, or what we now call qualy on Sunday, with warm up and race on the Monday

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Bahrain, Saudi and Las Vegas GP to be held on Saturday this year

Bahrain, Saudi and Las Vegas GP to be held on Saturday this year

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Re: Bahrain, Saudi and Las Vegas GP to be held on Saturday this year

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