Azerbaijan GP in Baku already on Saturday: what on earth is going on?

This coming Grand Prix weekend in Baku (Azerbaijan) is a little different: first practice sessions on Thursday, qualifying on Friday, the race on Saturday – hang on, what?

The first F1 Saturday race since Las Vegas is scheduled this way because the country is observing a day of remembrance on 27 September – to honour those soldiers who lost their lives in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.

The memorial day is observed in a solemn and dignified manner. At 12.00 local time, there is a minute’s silence. Traffic comes to a standstill. Afterwards, cars, trains and ships sound their horns. The national flags are flown at half-mast, and prayers are said for the fallen in places of worship.

To mark this day with due respect, the organisers had asked the International Automobile Federation (FIA) and Formula One Management to bring the Grand Prix weekend forward by one day.

It only became clear later that this also provides a bit of breathing space, as F1 will be holding the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia a week after the Baku street race.

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FIA Formula One World Championship

24.09.2026 - 10:15

For years we have been used to Formula 1 races taking place on Sundays, but when we look back, a surprising number of World Championship races have been held on other days: Of the 1,163 F1 races held to date since Silverstone in 1950, no fewer than 60 have taken place on a Saturday – the last one before Las Vegas in 2023 was the 1985 South African Grand Prix at Kyalami near Johannesburg.

Speaking of Silverstone 1950: the first Formula 1 World Championship race took place on a Saturday, and the traditional British Grand Prix did not move permanently to a Sunday fixture until 1984!

The 1950 World Championship got off to a rather odd start in terms of the days of the week: the premier class made its debut on a Saturday, followed by the Monaco Grand Prix – the first Sunday race – and then the Indy 500, which counted towards the World Championship at the time, held on a Tuesday!