Formula 1: F1 has seen unprecedented growth in popularity and engagement over the last few years. Primarily, the young and upcoming audiences are a result of Netflix produced docu-series “Drive to Survive”. Beyond a doubt, F1 right now is the fastest, glitziest and most ruthless motorsport in the world. This travelling circus is tapping new age groups and geographical regions season by season. A huge role to play in this increasing buzz around the sport is of the ambitious F1 calendars. Follow Formula 1 Live Updates on InsideSport.IN.
The calendars are seeing constant additions of new tracks with each passing year. Inclusion of new tracks is the best way to tap new audiences. Primary examples being the two new US circuits in Miami and Las Vegas, former being inaugurated last season while latter scheduled in November 2023. Now, the FIA in an attempt to make the sport more sustainable is planning to regionalise the calendar to avoid long travels.
However, going by the prima facie unreasonable Austin/Mexico/Brazil triple header, this idea needs more working. In the coming years, there are some expected changes that will take place. This includes the game format, induction of new circuits, deletion of some old ones including some the street circuits, and return of the ones not visited in a while. Amidst all this, there has been wider criticism of the hectic schedules of F1 as well, making it invariably tough for mechanics and staff to sustain in sport for longer time.
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Deletion of Spa Expected in Formula 1 Calendar in upcoming years
2024 will have more though-out race schedules, unlike the current season. The season opener would most likely be Bahrain, as usual, followed by Saudi Arabian GP or vice versa. Moreover, Chinese GP is all set to return, as per the contractual obligation, most likely back-to-back with Suzuka.
One leading contender to join the grid is the planned revival of the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami. Apart from Cape Town, Rwanda and Morocco are other African countries in the mix as other alternatives for African GP. Commercial hindrances are causing a delay in Kyalami project for now, thus delaying its inclusion on the grid. Now, this was a near future event. Talking about the long-term alternatives in play for big bucks and prestige, Madrid and South Korea are frontrunners in that regard.
However, to accommodate these much anticipated projects, FIA will have to think about excluding certain races from the existing calendar. With 23 races already in the list, 2023 is is longest ever F1 season. Further additions will only make it more hectic and impracticable. If South African GP needs to be on the calendar, Spa will be an obvious deletion to acccomodate it. Similarly, Imola is on a constant challenge from Monza to avoid two Italian races.
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