Next year’s F1 calendar to be confirmed in October, 24 races likely – Domenicali

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In the round-up: Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali expects to confirm details of next year’s calendar “around early October”, including two more races than this year’s 22-round schedule.

In brief

Maximum 24 race cap likely to be hit in 2023, suggests Domenicali

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali expects to confirm details of next year’s schedule “around early October”, he told a call to Liberty Media investors yesterday.

Domenicali indicated the 2023 F1 calendar is likely to feature the maximum permitted 24 races. The series is endeavouring to reorganise some of its rounds to reduce the amount of travel and therefore cut costs and emissions.

“We would like to keep the right flow in terms of efficiency around the world, to consider the needs of a calendar to be spread out from March to November all around the world,” he said.

“The demand is very, very high,” for races, he added. “We cannot [say] anything more than what we are saying because we are, of course, finalising all the details. But we for sure expect to have a couple of races more than this year, but less than 25, that’s for sure.”

Nato replaces injured Bird for Seoul season finale

Jaguar Formula E driver Sam Bird will miss the season finale double-header in Seoul, South Korea, after fracturing his hand early in the second London EPrix last weekend.

Norman Nato will step into Bird’s car for both races in Seoul, which will be hosting the all-electric championship for the first time. Nato previously competed in the series with Venturi last year, taking one race victory in the second Berlin EPrix.

It will be the first Formula E races without Bird on the grid, leaving Lucas di Grassi as the only driver to have started every Formula E race. He and the series will reach their centenaries of starts on Sunday.

Formula Regional Asian Championship adds Kuwait to 2023 schedule

The Formula Regional Asian Championship and the Formula 4 UAE Championship will both compete at the Kuwait Motor Town circuit for the first time during next year’s season.

The 5.6-kilometre grade one venue was opened in 2019 but has never previously held a round of the FRAC before. The Kuwait circuit will form one of five rounds in a 15 race schedule, beginning in Dubai in mid-January and closing in Abu Dhabi in mid-February.

This year’s FRAC drivers’ title was won by Ferrari academy driver Arthur Leclerc, younger brother of Ferrari F1 driver Charles Leclerc.

Grid penalty for Castroneves

Helio Castroneves has been given a six-place grid penalty for this weekend’s IndyCar race in Nashville after his team fitted his fifth engine of the season, exceeding his maximum limit of four. The Meyer Shank driver was 23rd out of 26 competitors in the opening practice session, which was led by Christian Lundgaard.

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Comment of the day

With the future of the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps in doubt, the question is why is it so challenging for the iconic venue to make money from hosting the race? Once again, @gt-racer is here to educate…

A lot of the classic races struggle to make a profit, Partly because as the newer state backed venues began to come in they started throwing more & more money at Bernie/CVC & now Liberty which started to see the amount they asked races to pay to host a race increasing to a point where it’s difficult for the races without state funding to be able to afford it.

At the same time circuits lost the income they used to make from trackside advertising. Circuits used to be able to do there own deals for trackside sponsorship which is why you used to see different trackside ads at different circuits. But that is now something that circuits can’t do as all the trackside advertising are F1 deals that F1 gets paid for with nothing going to the circuits.

Basically the only income circuits get from an F1 weekend is part of the ticket revenue which they also have to split with F1. That was a part of the reason ticket prices started to go up.

There is also additional pressure now as Liberty are pushing for every race weekend to be a big event with loads of additional activities (See Miami as an example) & that is all stuff that has to be paid for & organised by the circuit. And circuits that can’t afford that stuff or just don’t want to are immediately seen as been less attractive to Liberty.
GT Racer

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Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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12 comments on “Next year’s F1 calendar to be confirmed in October, 24 races likely – Domenicali”

  1. Out here, there was a time when cricket was madness. When a match was aired, everyone would stay back at home to watch it. Streets would be empty and you’d hear people cheering or booing from their houses. When the match ended, people left with a happy feeling and wait eagerly for the next match whenever it was.
    Then Cricket exploded. Different formats, lots of matches, one on ones, 20-20s, everything. I stopped enjoying it as much. There was no missing and waiting for the next match cause there was always something going on. I don’t even watch it anymore.
    The way they are squeezing in more and more races, I hope F1 becomes what cricket became to me.

    1. I would watch F1 every weekend. Actually I watch F1, F2, F3, italian/german F4, GB3, FREC, Indycar and Formula E.

    2. The world has changed since cricket was popular. The last cricket match I watched would have been during the 80’s.
      There’s a lot more to choose from now – more things trying to attract, capture and hold attention. It’s much more difficult now than it was 30 years ago, when there was no internet and only 5 TV stations (all free).

      The question worth asking yourself is: “If I don’t like (cricket or F1) as much now, is it because ‘it’ has changed, or because ‘I’ have changed.”
      Probably both, given the time span….

    3. I have no doubt that less is more with these sports. The current F1 calendar is reaching the point that I struggle to maintain my interest for every single race – the double and triple headers are just way too much. I feel the same about cricket, but the different formats are easier to manage as a fan (I religiously follow the tests, the others not so much).

      F1 races should be huge carnivals in their own right. Parceling them up as being merely a part of a bigger championship diminishes them as individual events and reduces their local appeal.

      I would love a return to a 16 race calendar, with revolving hosts for the majority of races. There would be a core that appear every year. It’ll never happen because the owners of the sport are addicted to quick money, but it would be a huge improvement on the spectacle. It would also reduce the likelihood of multiple dead rubbers when one driver runs away with the title.

  2. The COTD is 100% correct and is a much better explanation than mine.

  3. Re: COTD

    There is also additional pressure now as Liberty are pushing for every race weekend to be a big event with loads of additional activities (See Miami as an example) & that is all stuff that has to be paid for & organised by the circuit.

    This, and this last sentence in particular, I think puts things in a negative spotlight.
    I mean, basically you could argue that it’s a racing event and if people aren’t satisfied with what the circuit can do for them, with all the racing in the different series throughout a day or weekend, fans should go somewhere else.

    On the other hand there’s many upsides to making it a broader event. If you keep people entertained at the track longer you can spread traffic (traffic jams are notoriously bad around Spa). And in case you (or other companies nearby) organise Grand Prix related side events (a Goodwood FOS style event would be fitting to the Ardennes region) that can make an impact on the region, more than when everybody just stays at the track and only spends money there.

  4. It used to be that Belgian GP sponsors struggled to sponsor the event, I don’t think that is the case now. During the covid dictatorship races were much less expensive, that also helped keep Spa on.
    Shell is doing great, oil is doing amazing, you can thank the USA. Spa should be able to sponsor the Belgian GP, the thing is we are getting to 24 races and this means bidding wars for spots on the calendar also we have zandvoort now, shell does not need another race in the area.

  5. Sad. Way too many races and at so many poor circuits )-8

    1. @floodo1 pick the circuits you like and skip the others. I’ve been trying it this year and I have enjoyed F1 more as a result. Some circuits are just too hard to watch.

  6. Surprising time of year choice for FIA officials’ visit, given Middle East’s typical extreme heat.
    Everything’s, of course, in place as Jeddah Corniche Circuit, is effectively a semi-permanent circuit, i.e., a temporary one closest to being full purpose-built.

  7. some racing fan
    8th August 2022, 0:05

    I seriously hope Miami is the first race of the year, on 26 February. Then they could have Bahrain (12 March) and then Saudi (19 March), just before Ramadan. Having a race in Miami in early May or later is just stupid and a waste of time.

  8. What a ridiculous revenue driven calendar

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