The FIA confirms the calendar for next season, with 24 Grands Prix, starting on March 5 and ending on November 26
The World Motor Sport Council, the FIA body that sets the regulations and calendars, has confirmed that the 2023 Formula 1 World Championship will form a major novelty at a glance: it consists of 24 races more than ever in history .
The 2023 campaign, if forecasts are met and no race is dropped, will be the longest and most compact in history. The participation in the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the penultimate round of the championship and the return of races such as China, absent since the start of the pandemic, or Qatar, which returns after inclusion in 2021 and absence in 2022 for the next ten seasons , has forced to retouch several already classic quotes. One of these is the Spanish Grand Prix. From the usual race that opened the so-called European season at the beginning of May, it has been moved to the first weekend of June, from 2 to 4. In addition, it is the last race of one of the two consecutive Grand Prix triples that will take place next year, after appointments in Emilia Romagna (Imola) and Monaco.
The next Formula 1 season starts a little earlier, on March 5, in Bahrain and continues two weeks later in Saudi Arabia. With another fourteen days break, he travels to Australia and then back to China, a return that raises a lot of doubt. The Asian country has been left out of the last calendars since the outbreak of the pandemic and is now slated to return there, although it is not yet clear that it will finally be on the calendar. In any case, the FIA has already reserved the space for them; should he eventually drop out, the regulars with Turkey and Germany in the lead are ready to fill in for him.
After the Azerbaijan appointment, it travels back to Miami for the first of three races on American soil to take place in 2023, with Austin and the new Las Vegas appointment being the penultimate of the year. Back two weeks after the race from Florida to Europe, most of the World Cup will start in the Old Continent, but it won’t be in Spain like before, but again, it will be in Imola. The Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix opens the continental round that will last until after the summer, also on Italian soil, with the appointment of the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.
Lots of news in between. Not only has the Spanish Grand Prix been moved to June, the Belgian Grand Prix has also been moved to July 30 before the summer break. This change has already created some mess as one of the classic Endurance races was due to take place that same weekend, the 24 Hours of Spa, which now has to be moved or renegotiated. The mother of all prototype sports events, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is free to collide with F1 for the first time in years. The FIA and Formula 1 have agreed to come to an agreement so that the centenary of “the mother of all races” is free. Will there be any surprise entries from an F1 driver at the legendary La Sarthe circuit?
While Formula 1 is determined to pursue sustainability, the increase in Grand Prix has been a serious logistical problem for years. While the official discourse is filled with the quest for a “zero carbon footprint” and being efficient in environmental terms, travel is increasing year after year. The 2023 calendar tries to ensure these routes are as few as possible, although round trips between Europe and America will be maintained in May and June, with the Miami and Canada appointments between Azerbaijan and Emilia-Romagna and Spain and Austria respectively. For the rest, although the triplets have been reduced to two, there is still serious conflict with the less well-to-do members of F1.
Mechanics, anonymous engineers, communications personnel… They will all have to be away from home for more than 250 days to follow the caravan of the great circus across the five continents. The big stars of F1, the drivers, support them more and more, but they can’t help but feel guilty for ‘forcing’ them to submit to such schemes. The data is devastating: 2023 has 52 weeks, more than half of which are F1. Good for fans, average for ‘curritos’.
Source: La Verdad
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