Despite Current Uncertainty, the Future Is Bright for the F1 Schedule
The Formula One calendar has never been under as much uncertainty in the modern era of the sport. The covid-19 pandemic has caused race cancellations at otherwise stalwarts of the F1 season’s scenery.
In the last week the Canadian Grand Prix succumbed to the virus, as it did in 2020 too. In fact, the entire 2020 campaign’s original calendar was thrown out the window with the cancellation of the opening race in Australia. The likes of Brazil, America, Mexico, France and China were all given the year off.
The announcement of the 2021 calendar was teemed with caution. While Chase Carey, then CEO of F1, maintained his utter confidence in the safety of the sport, the few months since then has shown that some host nations themselves couldn’t guarantee that same safety. Australia and China were the first to fall and Canada will likely not be the last.
“We are pleased to announce the 2021 Formula 1 provisional calendar after extensive conversations with our promoters, the teams and the FIA. We are planning for 2021 events with fans that provide an experience close to normal and expect our agreements to be honoured,” said Carey in November 2020.
“We have proven that we can safely travel and operate our races and our promoters increasingly recognise the need to move forward and manage the virus. In fact, many hosts actually want to use our event as a platform to show the world they are moving forward.
However, amid all that uncertainty, the F1 calendar has found a way to adapt. At first it found a rather simple solution of running at tracks like in Austria and in Britain two weekends in a row. But, as the desperation grew to fill the 2020 season with enough races to make a championship, new and returning tracks chipped in.
Imola, Portimao, Istanbul Park, Mugello and the Nurburgring were all drafted in, to much excitement. Imola hadn’t been used since 2006, Istanbul Park in 2011 and Nurburgring 2013. The likes of Portimao and Mugello had never been used for an official F1 race either.
The introduction of these circuits to the 2020 schedule proved a massive success. It injected an energy into the season that was otherwise lacking at some of the traditional venues. It was also a reminder of the strength in the number of great race tracks there are in Europe.
Such was their success that when China and Vietnam were both cancelled, there was no hesitation for Imola and Portimao to return to the calendar for 2021.
Now, with Canada cancelled for June, Turkey will once again step up to host another race for this season. With further cancellations on the cards for later in the season, there remains a chance that we could still see the likes of Mugello come back, or even a return to Germany once again this year.
What this adaptability has shown is that there should be greater scope for where the F1 circus can go in a given season. While the calendar has been overstuffed with 23 races, and it looks set to grow to 25 in the future, there are still going to be great venues that get left out.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown raised a potential solution to this problem in February. His idea of rotating races between venues worked in the past for F1 and it can now be a great way to keep a wide variety of tracks under the umbrella of the sport, without letting some old forgotten gems to be left in the past.
“I’d like to get to a place where we are rotating some races. I’m a big believer that if a good country wants a Grand Prix, that’s a great thing. I think the more countries we race in, the better,” said Brown
“That being said, I think there’s two things to consider with the size of the schedule. There’s first and foremost is your people. It’s a brutal schedule.
“And then the other is the scarcity of the races. If you look at NFL, there are I think 16 regular season games, and three or four play-offs. The Olympics is massively popular, that’s every four years, as is the World Cup.
“We know some Grands Prix tail off over time, and so actually if you didn’t make it an annual thing, but every two years, would some of those Grands Prix be actually more sustainable because you don’t have the burn-out?”
This allows tracks like Portimao to return as it could be rotated with the Catalunya track. Perhaps Jerez could return to the sport too. Magny Cours could also be rotated with Paul Richard for the French Grand Prix.
Obviously, the biggest obstacle to this is the cost of running an F1 event. Not all of these circuits have been upgraded in accordance with F1’s rigorous safety standards either. But for the health of the sport, there should be compromises made to work together to ensure a greater variety in where the races are held.
This would be healthy for the growth of the sport as it could take it to nations that haven’t hosted a race in many years or even introduce the sport to new countries. The likes of Malaysia could return in a partnership with China to rotate hosting duties.
The US Grand Prix could rotate between the new Miami venue and the Circuit of the Americas in Texas. It could even see the return of Indianapolis, which hasn’t been used since 2007.
Under this structure there would still be a need to have a select few venues maintain their place on the calendar as a constant. The history and significance of the likes of Monza, Monaco, Silverstone, Spa Francorchamps and Suzuka mean they should be a guarantee to any F1 season, the sport simply wouldn’t be the same without them.
Despite the current uncertainty over the immediate future of where the next F1 races will be held, the long-term health of the schedule might be affected for the better once we are finally out of the other side of the pandemic. The last 12 months has been a reminder of the history of the sport, the next 12 months is a chance to enshrine it as the future of the sport too.
