Imola replaces China as F1 confirms 23-race calendar for 2022 season

2022 F1 season

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Formula 1 has announced another record-breaking schedule of races for next year’s Formula 1 world championship.

The 2022 F1 season, which has been approved by the FIA World Motor Sport Council, will feature 23 races, breaking the record set by this year’s 22-round schedule.

The championship will open with a race at Bahrain International Circuit, for the fourth time in its history, on March 20th. The championship will conclude exactly eight months later, fitting 23 races into 36 weekends.

Abu Dhabi will play host to the final race of the season, as it has every year since 2014. Its November 20th date is the earliest conclusion to an F1 season since 2010, and ensures the championship will finish one day before the first match of the FIFA football World Cup.

That tournament is being held in Qatar, which explains the country’s absence from the 2022 F1 calendar following its coming debut next month. It is due to return to the schedule in 2023.

Miami International Autodrome, 2021
Track data: Miami International Autodrome
For the first time since 1984, F1 will hold two races in the USA. A street race in Miami, which was confirmed in April after several attempts to realise the plan, will take place in May. That will join the existing race at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas, which will mark its 10th anniversary in 2022.

Italy will also hold two races as the Chinese Grand Prix has been struck from the calendar for the third year in a row due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Imola will therefore return to the schedule again in April for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, while Monza continues to hold the Italian Grand Prix.

Other venues which have not held races since 2019 due to the Covid-19 will return to the schedule. F1 will return to Melbourne in Australia, Montreal in Canada, Suzuka in Japan and Singapore’s Marina Bay circuit.

Autodromo do Algarve in Portugal and Istanbul Park in Turkey, which held races during the past two pandemic-affected seasons, will not return to the schedule.

F1 has indicated the races at Imola, the Circuit de Catalunya, Singapore and the Circuit of the Americas are subject to the agreement of new contracts for those events. Miami’s race is subject to the approve of its new circuit.

“We are very pleased with the interest in Formula 1 from places that want to host races and the growth of the sport, and believe we have a fantastic calendar for 2022 with destinations like Miami joining famous and historic venues,” said F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali. “The pandemic is still with us, and we will therefore continue to be vigilant and safe – to protect all our personnel and the communities we visit.”

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2022 F1 calendar

DateCountryCircuit
20 MarchBahrainBahrain International Circuit
27 MarchSaudi ArabiaJeddah Corniche Circuit
10 AprilAustraliaAlbert Park
24 AprilItaly (‘Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix’)Imola
8 MayUSA (‘Miami Grand Prix’)Miami International Autodrome
22 MaySpainCircuit de Catalunya
29 MayMonacoMonaco
12 JuneAzerbaijanBaku City Circuit
19 JuneCanadaCircuit Gilles Villeneuve
3 JulyBritainSilverstone
10 JulyAustriaRed Bull Ring
24 JulyFrancePaul Ricard
31 JulyHungaryHungaroring
28 AugustBelgiumSpa-Francorchamps
4 SeptemberNetherlandsZandvoort
11 SeptemberItalyMonza
25 SeptemberRussiaSochi Autodrom
2 OctoberSingaporeSingapore
9 OctoberJapanSuzuka
23 OctoberUSACircuit of the Americas
30 OctoberMexicoAutodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
13 NovemberBrazilInterlagos
20 NovemberUnited Arab Emirates (‘Abu Dhabi Grand Prix’)Yas Marina

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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48 comments on “Imola replaces China as F1 confirms 23-race calendar for 2022 season”

  1. As expected, so entirely unsurprising.
    Is holding Abu Dhabi GP before World Cup begins an absolute necessity, though, given the country is different anyway? Not that I care about having a Brazil-Abu Dhabi pairing for the 2nd time (they formed a double-header in 2010.)

    1. I would imagine that TV viewership is the primary motivator, given that the World Cup is one of the few events that could outmatch F1 in terms of audience numbers.

      1. @ciaran Yes, but F1 has done European races during World & UEFA Cups in June-July, so racing in Abu Dhabi during a World Cup in another Gulf Region country shouldn’t be an issue either.

      2. some racing fan
        16th October 2021, 22:43

        For the first time ever, I don’t think anyone is really looking forward to this upcoming World Cup, considering it is being played in an authoritarian country that bribed FIFA officials during the voting process to get thee tournament and used slave labour to build its stadiums.

        1. some racing fan
          16th October 2021, 22:44

          And also it is being played at the end of the year, literally in the middle of club season.

  2. Pretty decent calendar all things considered. Looking forward to finally being able to attend the European races again! The Russia-Singapore-Japan triple header looks brutal for team staff though.

    1. @ciaran furthermore, it’s worth noting that the triple header of Russia, Singapore and Japan comes after the triple header of the Belgian, Dutch and Italian GPs. Even if that triple header is rather closer together in terms of geography, it’s still a lot of races being crammed into a fairly short period of time (the only respite being the two weeks between the Italian and Russian GPs).

      Asides from that, you now have a situation where you have eight races which are paired together – we’re now in a situation where races being a fortnight apart is now the minority option, and double and triple headers are becoming a normal part of the calendar.

      I did strongly suspect that this would be the inevitable consequence of the calendar pretty much reaching the limit for how long the season can practically run for, but with Liberty Media still adding more races. The triple headers might be the thing attracting attention, but having so many double headers arguably makes it worse given that having so many of them is removing time that those involved in the sport might have otherwise been able to use to rest staff.

      1. some racing fan
        15th October 2021, 22:41

        That caught my eye too- that’s pretty brutal.

  3. There must be an easier way than have Miami and Montreal being just ‘a quick trip across the Atlantic and straight back again’. I know Montreal historically has done it, but twice, for two races, just looks a bit of a logistical / environmental silly episode. It makes Imola look very out of place (maybe that’s the silly one).

    *Very happy to see Imola have a place on the calendar

    1. some racing fan
      15th October 2021, 19:15

      No, because Miami is intensely hot and humid in June- and it rains on average 10 in (25 cm) in that month alone. If there was a 3rd US GP in California where it isn’t so hot in June (at least not on the coast, Laguna Seca for example), pairing it with Montreal would be ideal.

      1. @some racing fan Not really any hotter than in May, only about a couple of degrees difference in respective avg highs & daily means. I know because I’ve checked before for this purpose.
        Early June definitely wouldn’t be an issue.

        1. some racing fan
          16th October 2021, 10:31

          No, it would be an issue- and it is hotter and more humid there in June than it is in May- although not by much. There is difference between having gone there in June (which I have; I lived in Florida for 2 years) and just assuming what kind of weather could happen in June in Miami, and if you know how much rain Miami gets in June and have seen an afternoon rainstorm there- which occurs every 3 days of 4 then you would know that not only would it not be conducive to an event like an F1 GP- but F1 cars simply do not work properly in heavy rainstorms.

          I have seen responses from you multiple times about the weather in Miami in June. Yes, pairing Montreal with another North American event would be ideal- but pairing Montreal with Miami would be a terrible idea. Have you seen a rain storm in Florida- or better yet, have you driven in a rainstorm in Florida in summer? It is not only dangerous, but would wash out the event and leave a bad taste in most people’s mouths. And let’s get back to the heat. Summer in Florida is almost unbearable- the high heat and humidity makes for a particularly unpleasant experience. The coastal cities in Florida are more tolerable than the inland ones but not by much- and such conditions for a bunch of visiting Europeans mostly used to much milder weather would likely doom the event’s future.

          If there is going to be a 3rd US GP, then hopefully its on the West Coast, where the weather is far more appropriate, then pairing it with Montreal would be more ideal.

          1. some racing fan
            16th October 2021, 10:33

            *far more appropriate in June

          2. @some racing fan Pretty much as unbearable as Southeast Asia, although another option is doing both Miami & Montreal within May’s 1st half. Yes, Montreal could still be cool-ish before mid-May but probably okay-ish warm.

          3. Or Miami in May’s last quarter, followed by Montreal in either late-May or early-June/opening quarter.

          4. some racing fan
            16th October 2021, 22:46

            You can’t avoid the heat and humidity of Southeast Asia (unless you race at night)- whereas you can in Miami. Early May is honestly pushing it.

          5. some racing fan
            16th October 2021, 22:49

            *the weather in Miami is cooler in winter than it is in summer.

  4. Isn’t is more convenient to pair the two North American races (Miami and Canada in May and June) but maybe there are some other constraints.

    1. They fly in planes now. Presumably one flight is logistically the same as any other when you have to load all that stuff and take it off when you get to the next track.

    2. some racing fan
      15th October 2021, 19:06

      No, because Miami is intensely hot and humid in June- and it rains on average 10 in (25 cm) in that month alone. That May date is pushing it- that is literally the final weekend before the hot and rainy season starts. But what I do t understand is why Miami and Imola haven’t switched dates?

    3. @amg44 Yes. Either both Miami & Montreal before Spain-Monaco or after, in which case Spain-Monaco earlier.

  5. I can’t wait for Australia and Canada to be cancelled again due to irrational fears!

    1. some racing fan
      15th October 2021, 19:13

      Irrational fears? Tell that to the families of the 4.55 million who have died of this virus. Comments like that are uncalled for.

      1. it must be tough to go through life getting so easily offended

        1. Troll much?

          1. He’s not trolling, he’s being honest. We don’t need to be cancelling races anymore. Vaccines are out, therapeutics are the best they’ve been, 99.6% of people get over it.

        2. You seem to be more offended (or rather ‘triggered by other comments’) than the one who responded to you.

        3. some racing fan
          15th October 2021, 22:47

          I had 2 friends who died from that virus. So yes, I find your post more than a little offensive.

      2. We’ve seen the first reversal of extreme poverty since 1997 and last year saw 150,000,000 plunged into it. When you cancel races, you have no sales on the stalls, no sales on the stalls means no orders from distributors, no orders from distributors means no clothes manufactured, no manufacturing means very low-income people can’t get work and can’t feed their families.

        ‘Irrational fears’ is strong, but it is an availability bias that has completely blinded us to the devastation our needs to not face death in the west (and we have to be brutally honest here, in the elderly population) have probably caused. I struggle with this, but having traveler heritage I am acutely aware of what extreme poverty looks like in the UK. I can’t begin to imagine how the total shut down of tourism has affected people in places like Bali.

        Now is it irrational fear to say we’re causing one of the most frightening wave of extreme poverty the world has seen in a century? I don’t think so. Cancelling GPs might make YOU feel sage, but for those on low-incomes… it is literally life ending.

        There’s no easy answer, but we MUST start to ask a serious questions now.

        1. Hang on, it is not true to say that we in the west, by cancelling GPs, restricting tourism and so forth, are causing a frightening wave of extreme poverty in other countries. The governments of many poor countries, including in places like Bali, imposed lockdowns and tourist bans. Even if we were free to go, they wouldn’t let us in. They make their own policy choices regardless of us.

      3. some racing fan, I would suggest you look at the work of The Economist, which has recently suggested that the official figures are likely underestimating the actual death toll. They suggest that the more likely figures are around 10.1 million to 19 million, with the best estimate being around 16.3 million, when you look at global mortality rates.

        That underestimating the number of deaths caused by covid-19 might, in some cases, not be intentional – for example, shortfalls in testing capacity, particularly during the earlier stages of the outbreak or in countries with limited resources, resulting in cases being misclassified – but, in some cases, there are suspicions of deliberate under reporting (i.e. cases being reclassified as pneumonia or other respiratory illnesses – there are a few countries where covid-19 rates were being reported as rather low, but seemed to be at a loss to explain why they suddenly seemed to be having abnormally high numbers of “pneumonia” cases).

        1. some racing fan
          15th October 2021, 22:43

          Thank you, good sir for establishing my point even further.

        2. some racing fan
          15th October 2021, 22:48

          Also, one more thing: are you a journalist?

          1. some racing fan, no, I am not – would you mind me asking why you have asked that question though?

          2. some racing fan
            16th October 2021, 20:19

            I’m asking based largely on your responses, because some comments of yours I’ve seen on here referenced you speaking to people who work or used to work for an F1 team, your often verbose, stats-heavy comments… I’m really just asking out of curiosity.

    2. @David Canada isn’t like that anymore.

  6. Great news to have Imola back again. If Portimao can somehow get back on too, perfect.

  7. some racing fan
    15th October 2021, 23:15

    1. USA (Miami) (February 20)
    2. Bahrain (March 6)
    3. Saudi (March 13)
    4. Australia (March 27)
    5. Singapore (April 3)
    6. Japan (April 17)
    7. Azerbaijan (May 1)
    8. Spain (May 8)
    9. Monaco (May 22)
    10. Imola (May 29)
    10. Canada (June 12)
    11. Russia (June 26)
    12. Austria (July 3)
    13. Holland (July 17)
    14. Britain (July 24)
    16. Hungary (August 7)
    17. Belgium (September 4)
    18. Italy (September 11)
    19. France (September 25)
    20. Brazil (October 9)
    21. USA (Austin) (October 23)
    22. Mexico (October 30)
    23. Abu Dhabi (November 13)

    1. @some racing fan An Azerbaijan-Spain & Russia-Austria doubles are a no-go because the former in both cases is a freight event, while teams use trucks for the latter.

  8. Good.

    Now just need to replace Jeddah with Portimao.

    1. @IMOLAFTW I’d instead remove Brazil, Spain, Monaco, Hungary, & even Australia.

    2. absolutely! i’m a bit irked Portimao isn’t on next year’s list >.<

  9. Good riddance..

  10. Wonder when F1 will go to Kyalami again, the track is fully updated and refurbished i believe.. It will be interesting though

  11. Still can’t believe Imola has anything to do with F1. One of the worst tracks finally go off the calendar, and then it’s brought back? Whatever happened to F1’s new push for raceability? It must have have been all talk, like a lot of what else they pretend to care about.

  12. Should’ve been stretched from early March to early December.

    1. @Dave Or just starting earlier in March, but ending on the same weekend.

      1. @jerejj I’d still go for a December stretch. March 6 to December 4, to be more exact.

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