The start time for the 2016 European Grand Prix in Baku might be forced to change once more, following a decision by the Azerbaijan government to abolish daylight saving time.
Academics have suggested that there is little economic benefits from clocks moving forward in Azerbaijan like the rest of Europe, leading to the government announcing earlier this week that daylight saving time (DST) will be cancelled.
With the abolishment of DST, plans to move the clocks forward on March 27 have been abandoned. With this decision it is likely that the original scheduled start time of 6pm will have to be rethought by the race organisers, with sunset now taking place at 8.14pm.
The obvious solution will be to shift the start time to 5pm, an hour forward, to avoid issues of fading light, ensuring as well that the start of the race would not clash with the finish of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. If there is a change to the start, Formula 1 Management will need to approve it followed by the FIA.
