Race Start
Saturday, September 26 at 7:00 AM EDT
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Free .ics download — sessions appear in your local time in Google, Apple & Outlook calendars.
Round 15 of 22 · Baku City Circuit · September 24–26, 2026
Free .ics download — sessions appear in your local time in Google, Apple & Outlook calendars.
| Session | Eastern | Central | Mountain | Pacific |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Practice 1 | Thu, Sep 24, 4:30 AM EDT | Thu, Sep 24, 3:30 AM CDT | Thu, Sep 24, 2:30 AM MDT | Thu, Sep 24, 1:30 AM PDT |
| Practice 2 | Thu, Sep 24, 8:00 AM EDT | Thu, Sep 24, 7:00 AM CDT | Thu, Sep 24, 6:00 AM MDT | Thu, Sep 24, 5:00 AM PDT |
| Practice 3 | Fri, Sep 25, 4:30 AM EDT | Fri, Sep 25, 3:30 AM CDT | Fri, Sep 25, 2:30 AM MDT | Fri, Sep 25, 1:30 AM PDT |
| Qualifying | Fri, Sep 25, 8:00 AM EDT | Fri, Sep 25, 7:00 AM CDT | Fri, Sep 25, 6:00 AM MDT | Fri, Sep 25, 5:00 AM PDT |
| Race | Sat, Sep 26, 7:00 AM EDT | Sat, Sep 26, 6:00 AM CDT | Sat, Sep 26, 5:00 AM MDT | Sat, Sep 26, 4:00 AM PDT |
Baku is F1's beautiful contradiction: a flat-out 2.2 km blast along the Caspian seafront bolted onto a medieval old-town section so narrow the cars barely fit past the castle walls. The result is the calendar's most reliable chaos — late safety cars, restarts, and last-lap lead changes are practically tradition here. Note the unusual schedule: in 2026 Baku runs Thursday-to-Saturday, with the race on Saturday.
Baku is two circuits welded together. The castle section climbs through the UNESCO-listed old town on cobble-adjacent streets so narrow — 7.6 meters at the tightest point — that a single mistake blocks the entire track. Then the layout tumbles back downhill onto the Caspian seafront for a 2.2 km full-throttle run to the line that is, in effect, the longest overtaking zone in Formula 1, with cars reaching 350 km/h in the tow.
That combination breaks races open: teams must choose between the downforce the old town demands and the slippery straight-line speed the seafront rewards, and nobody gets both. Safety cars and restarts are near-certainties, and Baku restarts are uniquely explosive because the pack reaches the braking zone for Turn 1 four-wide. The 2026 edition adds a twist — a Thursday-to-Saturday schedule with the race on Saturday.
F1 first came to Baku in 2016, and the circuit wasted no time building a reputation for anarchy: the 2017 race featured Sebastian Vettel driving into Lewis Hamilton under the safety car and a Lance Stroll podium at 18; in 2018 the Red Bulls crashed into each other; and in 2021 Max Verstappen's tire exploded while leading with five laps left, followed by Hamilton locking up from the restart lead. No venue delivers chaos more reliably per race held.
Read the schedule twice: the race is on SATURDAY, not Sunday, starting in the early morning hours for US viewers. Baku races are rarely decided until the final laps — multiple editions have flipped on a restart with five laps to go — so if you record it, avoid social media until you've watched the end.
Two scheduling quirks to burn into your calendar: the race is on Saturday, not Sunday, and it starts in the early morning hours for US viewers — 7 AM Eastern, 4 AM Pacific. Grab the .ics calendar file above rather than trusting habit. If you record it, stay off social media at all costs: Baku races are decided in the final five laps more often than the first fifty.
The race starts Saturday, September 26 at 7:00 AM EDT. That's 6:00 AM CDT Central, 5:00 AM MDT Mountain, and 4:00 AM PDT Pacific.
No, it uses the standard format: three practice sessions, qualifying (Friday, September 25 at 8:00 AM EDT), and the Grand Prix.
51 laps of the 6.003 km Baku City Circuit, a race distance of about 306 km.
Baku runs a Thursday-to-Saturday schedule in 2026, with practice Thursday, qualifying Friday, and the Grand Prix on Saturday September 26 — one of only two Saturday championship races on the calendar alongside Las Vegas.
New to Formula 1 or planning your viewing weekend? Read our guides to watching F1 in the US, how a race weekend works, and why F1 start times vary.