Will Bahrain bump Melbourne from F1 premiere?

A preliminary calendar posted on James Allan’s F1 blog has Bahrain, not Melbourne, hosting the opening race of the 2010 Formula One season.

The season premiere is pencilled in for 14 March, when the eastern states of Australia will still be on daylight savings time. Once the clocks revert to regular time, two weeks later, the time difference will better suit European television audiences. Therefore, Melbourne is scheduled to hose the second race of the year on 28 March.

At this stage there is no comment about the provisional calendar on the official Australian Grand Prix website. Although, the main banner does indicate the Grand Prix weekend is planned for 25-28 March.

In the 18 race program Montreal looks set for a return to F1 (6 June), coming in at the expense of the French Grand Prix. Of course, the British Grand Prix will be returning to Donington in 2010, as well (11 June).

This year’s calendar wasn’t confirmed until early October 2008, so expect speculation to continue for a few more weeks until the FIA signs off on next year’s schedule.

[Source: jamesallanon f1.com | Thanks to Wes for the tip]