F1 aiming to have 23 races this season but is open to a reduction in future

The world’s foremost single-seater racing championship, Formula One, is still hoping to have 23 grand Prix races on its racing calendar this year.

Stefano Domenicali, the sports’ new chief executive, said F1 is aiming for 23 races – which would be a new record – but is open to rotation and there could be fewer races in future editions, according to Reuters.

The current record for the most races in a season stands at 21 and this was achieved in 2016, 2018 and 2019.

The sport has grown in popularity since its debut in 1950 – seven races took place in that year – and was hoping to achieve 22 races in 2020 but these plans were scuppered because of the pandemic. They ended up hosting 17 races instead. Showcase street races such as the Monaco and Singapore Grand Prix were also cancelled.

Domenicali, who is a former Ferrari team principal and Lamborghini CEO, said that 2021 would require a flexible approach due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A revised calendar was issued this month and has shuffled the pack. The usual season-opener, Australia, is postponed to November and replaced by Bahrain on March 28. Italy’s Grand Prix at Imola is now the second race and China’s hopes of hosting a race this season look doubtful.

“Twenty-three races is a very important number of races, no doubt,” said Domenicali.

He added that for some it was too many and but others were not bothered.

“I would say that this equation will solve itself by the fact that if we’re able to deliver an incredible product we may go to a situation where maybe we can go back to a fewer number of races,” he said.

“Then maybe the chance of a rotation is possible for certain Grands Prix, keeping a focus on different areas. This is something that is in our plan to think about carefully this year, getting ready for when the world is normal again.”

A number of circuits – including Italy’s Mugello and Portugal’s Algarve – hosted races for the very first time while others returned to the calendar after long absences.

South Africa’s first F1 Grand Prix was held in 1962 at the Prince George Circuit in East London and the last took place in 1993 at Kyalami in Gauteng.

Domenicali indicated that he communicates with race organisers daily and they are all keen to commence the calendar.

“Of course we need to be flexible enough to understand that maybe in the first part of the season we may have some events with no public or with restricted members of the public,” he said. “But what I can assure our supporters, our fans, is that really we want to make sure that the season is there.”

Picture: Wikimedia Commons