Sky Sports F1 is the exclusive home of all live F1 in 2019
Thursday 17 January 2019 10:45, UK
The start times of the 21 races comprising the 2019 Formula 1 calendar have been revealed.
The schedule follows the same pattern as 2018's layout, with every race beginning at ten past the hour in order to suit television audiences.
Sky Sports F1 will be the exclusive home of all live F1 in 2019, with live coverage of every race, qualifying and practice session. 20 races will be broadcast exclusively live, alongside shared live coverage of the British GP.
Compared to the 2018 calendar, the only race start time change is for the French GP which will begin this year at 2.10pm UK time, putting it in line with the other Europe-based events, after being pushed back an hour last summer to avoid a direct clash with the football World Cup.
The British GP on July 14 will keep its 2.10pm time slot.
The season-opening Australian GP on March 17 will start at 5.10am UK time.
Why did the start times change?
F1's new owners, Liberty Media, believe moving the start-time of races to 10 minutes past the hour will improve the experience of TV viewers.
Announcing the change ahead of the 2018 season, F1 said: 'Some broadcasters usually go on air precisely on the hour, hence missing the tension and emotion that characterize the minutes before the start of each Grand Prix. Thanks to this change, television viewers will be brought closer to the teams and the drivers and fully enjoy the spectacle offered just before the red lights go out.'
Additionally, the hope is that the later starts in Europe and Brazil will increase TV audiences by making the sport more accommodating.
'Research has indicated that a wider TV audience is reachable later in the afternoons, especially in the summer months,' Liberty stated. 'Consequently, it has been decided to move the schedule of every session back by one hour across the whole weekend for each of the above-mentioned Grands Prix.'
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