Nervous teams plan to skip Saturday practice

Television and trackside viewers face a questionable spectacle on Saturday morning at Albert Park. As ever, an hour of practice is scheduled to finish just two hours before the all-important qualifying hour. Some teams, however, may not bother to send their cars out at all on Saturday morning.

That's because the newly V6-powered cars have not only proved worryingly unreliable in winter testing, but because repairing them now takes much longer than in the past. "Sometimes hours pass before a diagnosis is even made," said Auto Motor und Sport correspondent Michael Schmidt.

A full engine change can now take a whopping six hours, but Force India technical boss Andy Green added: "If we have to piece it together with individual parts, it can be 18 hours." FIA race director Charlie Whiting confirmed to reporters in Melbourne: "I've heard teams say that they'd skip P3 to make sure they have a car for qualifying." (GMM)

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Formula 1 Calendar - 2025

Date
Grand Prix & Circuit
14 - Mar 16 2025
Australia Albert Park
21 - Mar 23 2025
4 - Apr 6 2025
11 - Apr 13 2025
18 - Apr 20 2025
Saudi Arabia Jeddah Street Circuit
2 - May 4 2025
United States of America Miami International Autodrome
16 - May 18 2025
23 - May 25 2025
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13 - Jun 15 2025
27 - Jun 29 2025
Austria Red Bull Ring
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United Kingdom Silverstone
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1 - Aug 3 2025
Hungary Hungaroring
29 - Aug 31 2025
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Italy Monza
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17 - Oct 19 2025
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7 - Nov 9 2025
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5 - Dec 7 2025
United Arab Emirates Yas Marina Circuit
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