The start times of five Grand Prix in 2015 have been brought forward in the wake of the crash that left Jules Bianchi in a critical way during last years Japanese Grand Prix.
The races in Australia, Malaysia, China, Japan and Russia have all had their start times brought forward by one hour, with the FIA insisting that races must start at least four hours before dusk, unless the race is a night race such as Singapore or a day/night race such as Abu Dhabi.
The FIA had been trying to get races to run in the mid-to-late afternoon slots in Asia to cater for the European television audience, but now will have to think of safety.
The Australian Grand Prix has been moved from 5pm local time to 4pm, with the Malaysian Grand Prix moving from 4pm to 3pm local time. The Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai also moves forward from 3pm to 2pm local time, while the Japanese and Russian Grand Prix are set to start at 2pm local time.
Bianchi remains in a critical but stable condition in a French hospital after the crash at Suzuka last year after losing control in worsening conditions of his Marussia car and hitting a crane that was removing Adrian Sutil’s crashed Sauber from the same point of the track.
