How to make F1’s record-breaking 24 race calendar manageable in 2023

For the first time ever, Formula 1 will have a 24-race season as the calendar expands into 2023.

Qatar returns to Losail after missing out in 2022 to prepare for the FIFA World Cup in November/December, with the Las Vegas Grand Prix scheduled for November 18 as F1’s first Saturday race since the 1985 South African Grand Prix is.

France is gone while China is also returning, although that’s far from certain as a first visit to Shanghai since 2019 depends on COVID laws in the country next spring.

Some minor variations – like the Spanish Grand Prix in June and the Belgian Grand Prix as races before the summer break, no after It has also taken place as 24 Grands Prix in 21 countries await the field between March 5th and November 26th.

The six sprint races that are also on the calendar for next season are not even taken into account.

F1’s ongoing quest for more racing is simple enough – more racing means more money in the overall pie, and with circuits around the world eager to join the boom, F1 isn’t going bust any time soon.

But the people involved could. The mechanics, the media and the organizers will all be faced with an unprecedented schedule in 2023.

They’ll all make it because they do, but the risk of burnout and fatigue is a real danger as the toll on personal life grows and the rewards are overtaken by apathy.

However, some structural changes to the calendar could make it a manageable workload for those involved and keep everyone fresh.

Changes that might be made to the calendar

The basic rules are as follows:

• The season must fit within the dates of the current 2023 calendar
• The featured races must actually be planned for the new season
• No more than three races in a calendar month

This isn’t a “fantasy F1 calendar” wish list, so let’s get to it.

First off, triple headers were a tool used in 2020 to ensure as many races as possible could be run in the COVID season as F1 and the FIA ​​were unsure of what to do next could happen.

When the model was first used in France-Austria-Britain in 2018, teams didn’t respond to the model, but that was a necessity given that the 2018 World Cup final was on July 15th, bringing the Silverstone race forward to the 8th became.

But as the calendar expands, triple headers seem to be here to stay, so we’re making what we can out of it – which goes hand-in-hand with the second part of the solution – grouping races.

In the past there has been discussion by F1 of possibly merging races by region – like North America, Middle East, Far East/Australia, much like the European leg is set in stone during the summer months.

There’s little point going from the races in China (April 16) and Azerbaijan (30th) to Miami on May 7 (another overly long back-to-back race) only to follow up to the Emilia Romagna GP on May 21 return to Europe.

A little tightening of the calendar would go a long way.

tightening of the calendar

As the table above shows, there would be four triple-headers and six double-headers, although they’re all grouped by region, so there aren’t travel cases as extreme as the Azerbaijan-Miami or Las Vegas-Abu Dhabi published by the FIA.

This would mean teams could switch their tour groups, with one group taking the Australia/China opening leg before another arrives for the Bahrain/Saudi/Azerbaijan racing series.

As F1 mechanics are usually the first to arrive and the last to leave at a Grand Prix weekend, some reflection on their travel conditions would no doubt be very welcome.

Celebrating its centenary in 2023, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is scheduled for 11-12 June next year, with F1 finding a week off for that spot – which is retained in our hypothetical calendar.

Additionally, the Spa 24 Hours is scheduled for July 30th, meaning it will be rescheduled after a date change to accommodate the real life Grand Prix.

By bringing the Belgian GP forward to July 2nd, after the Austrian GP and before the British GP, a meaningful journey home across Europe, stopping in the Ardennes before an extended summer break between July 9th and August 20th is possible.

The American

The Singapore and Japanese Grands Prix remain on 17/24. September in situ before the final Americas leg of the campaign begins in Mexico on October 8th.

It runs back-to-back with the Sao Paolo Grand Prix in our hypothetical world, before a two-week break before a double-header in the United States.

The Austin race takes place on October 29th, with the trip to Las Vegas being moved forward by two weeks to November 4th.

Due to the unique time in Las Vegas, it starts at 10:00 p.m. Pacific Time, which is 6 a.m. in Europe but 1 a.m. on the east coast of America.

It’s not an ideal situation for F1 or Vegas, but the insistence on staging a race there means a Saturday night slot is the best it can be.

Conveniently, Saturday night’s race means there will be no clash with the NASCAR Cup Series championship race scheduled for November 5 in Nevada’s neighboring state of Arizona and the city of Phoenix.

The season then concludes with a doubles match between Qatar and Abu Dhabi – not continuing into December as has been the case in some recent seasons.