Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFormula 1

FIA announces revised 2016 F1 calendar

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The FIA has announced a revised 21-race calendar for 2016, which sees an earlier start to the season and a clash with Le Mans.

Following a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) in Paris, the provisional calendar was released which moves the opening race of the season - the Australian Grand Prix - forward two weeks to March 20. The first back-to-back of the season is scheduled as Canada (June 12) and Azerbaijan (June 19), the latter of which will see a clash with Le Mans.

While the Azerbaijan start time will be pushed back to ensure it does not clash with the conclusion of the Le Mans 24 Hours, the provisional race date will prevent Nico Hulkenberg from returning to defend his 2015 victory.

The mid-season break is reinstated with the German Grand Prix scheduled for July 31 ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix on August 28. The season will then end in Abu Dhabi on November 27.

The full calendar for 2016 released by the FIA is as follows:

Round	Race	Date
1	Australian Grand Prix (Melbourne)	20 March
2	Bahrain Grand Prix (Sakhir)	3 April
3	Chinese Grand Prix (Shanghai)	17 April
4	Russian Grand Prix (Sochi)	1 May
5	Spanish Grand Prix (Barcelona)	15 May
6	Monaco Grand Prix (Monte Carlo)	29 May
7	Canadian Grand Prix (Montreal)	12 June
8	European Grand Prix (Baku)	19 June
9	Austrian Grand Prix (Spielberg)	3 July
10	British Grand Prix (Silverstone)	10 July
11	Hungarian Grand Prix (Budapest)	24 July
12	German Grand Prix (Hockenheim)	31 July
13	Belgian Grand Prix (Spa-Francorchamps)	28 August
14	Italian Grand Prix (Monza)	4 September
15	Singapore Grand Prix (Marina Bay)	18 September
16	Malaysian Grand Prix (Sepang)	2 October
17	Japanese Grand Prix (Suzuka)	9 October
18	United States Grand Prix (Austin)	23 October
19	Mexican Grand Prix (Mexico City)	6 November
20	Brazilian Grand Prix (Interlagos)	13 November
21	Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Yas Marina)	27 November

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.