F1 schedule 2021: Date, start time, TV channel for every Formula 1 race

It’s lights out on the 2021 Formula 1 world championship.

After the coronavirus shortened the 2020 race schedule, F1 racing is back in a furious way, with a record slate of 23 races in 2021 — a drastic increase from the 17-race sprint that took place in 2020. Sakhir plays host to the 2021 season debut, with the Bahrain Grand Prix opening the season.

Imola will make a return to the schedule in 2021 in Round 2, less than a year after five drivers did not finish because of a swath of technical failures and an accident that sidelined racers. The slate also sees racers jump across the pond again to come to two races in North America this year, with every 2020 race taking place in Europe or Asia.

MORE: F1 drivers, teams for 2021

The 2020 F1 season was all sorts of memorable: Lewis Hamilton cruised to his seventh world championship, George Russell took a seat behind the wheel of a Mercedes in a glimpse of the future, Romain Grosjean miraculously survived a horrifying crash and Pierre Gasly was the first Frenchman to win a grand prix in nearly a quarter century.

Here’s what you need to know about the 2021 F1 schedule.

(All times Eastern.)

Formula 1 2021 schedule

In all, there are 23 scheduled races in the 2021 F1 season, with the Portuguese Grand Prix the last race added, sliding onto the docket the first week in March. The originally scheduled Vietnam Grand Prix was removed after the arrest of Nguyen Duc Chung, while the Chinese Grand Prix is currently up in the air. It was originally scheduled for April 11, but will likely not take place this season.

All races will be broadcast on the U.S. side on the ESPN family of networks, with the United States Grand Prix and Mexico City Grand Prix both airing on ABC.

Please note: The on-the-hour start times do not include the broadcast start time, which is typically five minutes before the start of the race. Times do not include ESPN’s customary pre-race shows.

MORE: Live stream F1 races all season on fuboTV (7-day free trial)

Here’s the latest schedule:

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