F1's 2025 schedule sees Bahrain, Saudi races shift for Ramadan

LONDON (AP) — Next year's Formula 1 season will open in Australia for the first time since 2019 after the full calendar for 2025 was revealed Friday.

The Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne will be the opening race because the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian rounds of the F1 championship — the first two races of this year — are shifting to mid-April dates to avoid the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Australia was last scheduled to host the opening race in 2020 but it was canceled hours before the Friday practice session was due to begin as the COVID-19 pandemic began.

After Australia, the next races on the 2025 calendar will be in China and then Japan, fitting F1's plans to cut the travel distance between its events where possible with an eye to the sport's environmental impact.

The schedule stays at 24 races — a record length for F1 — and there are no new circuits for next year, which will mark the 75th anniversary of F1. The season finishes with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Dec. 7.

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AP Formula 1: https://apnews.com/hub/formula-one