Formula 1 has confirmed the Canadian Grand Prix will move to an earlier date in 2026 in order to reduce the emissions generated by the championship.
The change in date for the round at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal will allow F1 to move it closer to the Miami Grand Prix, and therefore reduce the number of transatlantic crossings required during the season.Next year’s Canadian Grand Prix will be held on June 15th. From 2026 the race “is planned to be scheduled on the third or fourth weekend of May each year,” said F1 in a statement. The earliest the race has previously been held was June 2nd, in 1991.
The move to an earlier date will mean the race is likely to take place in much cooler conditions. The average temperature in Montreal during May is 13.5C compared to 18.7C in June.
F1’s announcement follows last week’s confirmation of a new date for the Monaco Grand Prix. The race, which previously took place in the last week of May, will move to the beginning of June.
“I am incredibly grateful to the promoter and all of the government stakeholder partners involved in the Canadian Grand Prix, from the local, to the provincial and national government,” said F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali. “We applaud the tremendous effort from all involved to accelerate the temporary build of the event, to be ready to host the Formula 1 community earlier than in the past.
“The change will make the future flow of our calendar not only more sustainable, but logistically more sensible for our teams and personnel. Our ‘net zero by 2030’ commitment continues to be a priority for us as a sport and it is thanks to changes like this that we are on track to hitting our goal.”
F1 has already made other changes to its calendar in order to cut the distances its personnel and freight travel each year, which is its largest source of carbon emissions by far. This year the Japanese Grand Prix moved from an autumn date to spring, moving it alongside the Chinese Grand Prix in the schedule.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories - and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
Formula 1
- How to watch the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- Divorce is in the air. What’s next for Red Bull, RB, Perez – and his replacement?
- “Lando did not lift”: How Verstappen and Red Bull lobbied for Norris’s penalty
- F1 switched to back-up Safety Car after lights failure during Qatar Grand Prix
- FIA explains why race director did not neutralise race after yellow flag for debris
Jason Blankenship (@jblank)
18th November 2024, 13:47
That’s a silly reason to move the race. What they need to do is just schedule all of the races that are within the same geographical area, together. Meaning, all the races in the Middle East are grouped together, North America grouped together, Far East grouped together, and so on. That is just common sense so they don’t have to travel in a criss-cross manner.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
18th November 2024, 14:40
@jblank
There is no race closer to the Canadian Grand Prix than the Miami Grand Prix, so this is a step towards exactly what you’re describing.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
18th November 2024, 16:03
@jblank It’s much easier said than done for a few reasons.
They try to be in each place to aim for the best of the weather. We saw in 2000 for example what happened when the British GP was moved from July to April, There was a lot more rain over the weekend than is usually seen in July which caused chaos to the surrounding infrastructure that wasn’t used to or suited to having those sort of crowds in the conditions seen at that time of year.
When the Australian GP was moved from Adelaide to Melbourne the race moved from the end of the season to the beginning because the weather in Melbourne can be a lot more variable later in the year while in Adelaide there tended to be less risk of rainfall later in the year.
And then looking at the US slate of races Texas can be unbearably hot/humid earlier in the year which is why COTA has always had a late season slot while Montreal is earlier in the year because it can be bitterly cold & have some very harsh weather later on.
And then there’s also things like tropical storm/hurricane season which affects where Miami can go as if you move it later on to pair it with COTA/Mexico your risking it been affected by a storm.
There is also things like local events that need to be considered as you don’t want to hold a race around some other thing which could hinder attendance & local promoters are sometimes also just less keen to be put up around local events at times. And with street circuits it may also not be as viable to shut the streets down at certain points of the year which can also affect where those races can go.
These as well as other considerations are why the talk about looking to group races together by region has never really gone anywhere. It’s something that gets brought up fairly regularly but which always ends up not working out when the various elements are looked at.
MichaelN
18th November 2024, 19:18
It’s indeed quite complex. And the expectation that they’ll all stay there for the entirety of this ‘leg’ of the championship doesn’t seem probable. So it might save a bit on freight costs, but many people will fly back and forth anyway, and the teams will also want (or need!) to bring in new parts after x-number of races.
some racing fan
21st November 2024, 7:31
There is also the consideration of having Miami later in the year is quite simply impossible. The autumn season is when the Miami Dolphins NFL team and Hurricanes NCAA team use the stadium every weekend between August and December.
I luv chicken
18th November 2024, 13:52
I love how these billionaire individuals and corporations want to appear to be Eco friendly. Moving a race date appears like they’re concerned with the environment, but now allows them to move greater quantities of equipment. Meanwhile, they fly around in multi million dollar jets spewing multi tons of pollutants, from their gas guzzling planes, shipping countless mega tons of equipment, on a weekly basis. But, alas, it’s not just them. How many transport trucks, and other gas powered machines are being used in the Eras tour? The answer is dozens, upon dozens, upon dozens. Isn’t it time fo a drastic evaluation of the useless consumption, currently popular?
Jere (@jerejj)
18th November 2024, 13:59
Zero difference to equipment quantities.
BenjaminS (@benihana)
18th November 2024, 14:06
So what would be a solution in your mind? While it will in the long run not solve the eternal eco issue I do see this helping in some ways and am grateful they are at least trying to do something.
KarenCampbell
18th November 2024, 22:51
They could stop misrepresenting themselves/lying to us. The only thing that we’re learning from them is that making token effort towards climate change, then spending a ton of effort in telling everyone about it, is very good for business. To me, that encourages youth to do very little, but talk as if they’re saving the world. Real change isn’t marketing.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
18th November 2024, 15:04
So, because billionaires and corporations emit huge amounts of harmful pollutants, there is no point in doing anything to reduce emissions? This is just a common sense move with presumably little downside either on the sporting or commercial side, so it’s a no-brainer to do things like this. It will reduce costs for F1 and the teams too. Besides which, some of the billionaires and corporations you are complaining about are involved in F1, and therefore reducing their emissions through efficiency measures like these. By all means criticise these companies for meaningless virtue signalling, deflecting the blame, and not backing up their environmental pledges through policy, but this is one of these occasions where they are doing something common sense to try to mitigate the issue.
MichaelN
18th November 2024, 19:23
You’re right that anything that helps, helps. Them doing better should be applauded, but at the same time it doesn’t buy them a free pass. As long as F1 teams are backed by oil companies, tech companies, and crypto “business” excessive energy usage remains a valid criticism of the F1 world.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
18th November 2024, 19:11
The only thing green about the Billionaire’s revolution is the money they will be making off of government extortion.
Jere (@jerejj)
18th November 2024, 13:58
This was immediately clear when the Monaco GP announcement referred to a June switch, although ‘much cooler conditions’ couldn’t be more exaggerated from reality.
The highest daytime ambient temps are mostly in the 20s throughout May, & even more so from the mid-month phase onwards, which is what relevantly matters, given the average Miami GP date range thus far & that the Canadian GP would take place a week later, so definitely warm & therefore perfect for racing.
Regarding the last paragraph, while the Japanese GP switched to the early-season phase, it still isn’t on consecutive weekends with the Chinese GP.
Simon
18th November 2024, 17:57
John Kettley is a legendary weather forecaster. You, are not…
Guilherme Teixeira
18th November 2024, 19:21
The last two summers have been weirdly warm here, but you can have some chilly days even in the second half of May, which are much less likely in June.
Jay
21st November 2024, 5:35
A whole thread of comments was deleted, which were critical of billionaires and F1 that simply pretend to care about the environment. If you see this thread in the future, please note that differing opinions were deleted and you aren’t seeing the full picture of commenters. I will be archiving comments from now on and hope others do as well!
some racing fan
21st November 2024, 7:25
What they should do is have Canada in September after Monza, like it was before 1982, or now a days after Baku or something, and work it out so that Baku can be held a week before planes can be ready in Milan to take the equipment over to Baku.
Monza (September 6)
Baku (September 13)
Canada (September 27)
Vegas (October 4)
Brazil (October 18)
Mexico (November 1)
Austin (November 8)
Singapore (November 22)
Abu Dhabi (November 29)
AlexS
22nd November 2024, 6:47
Hahaha! F1 is increasingly a joke.