F1 edging towards 20-race seasons
Abu Dhabi won't be F1's newest venue for long: South Korea and India are next
The confirmation of the British Grand Prix on the 2010 F1 calendar yesterday confirms next year’s schedule will be the joint-longest ever.
With the first Indian Grand Prix planned for 2011, F1 may soon see its first 20-race championship.
New additions
At least one new race is planned for the 2011 F1 calendar – last month we had our first look at India’s F1 track plans.
On top of that the Czech Republic is considering a bid to hold an F1 race in Prague, potentially as early as 2012.
Existing or recently-dropped events may provide further opportunities for expansion. Sadly the French bid to revive its race at a new circuit in Flins has been abandoned. But FIA president Jean Todt has indicated he is supportive of the French round returning to the calendar.
The chances of the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis being revived look remote as the circuit owners seem more preoccupied with developing the struggling Indy Car series.
But there may be a chance for F1 to return to having two rounds in Germany. This was the norm during the height of the Schumacher years. Hockenheim and the Nurburgring now share the race (and have an arrangement to do so until 2018) which means Germany has at least two F1-standard circuits.
There are potentially six German drivers on the grid next year. And Mercedes is returning as a full Grand Prix team for the first time since 1955. Notwithstanding the unfortunate loss of BMW, could Germany soon be ready for two F1 races again?
Races in doubt
All this assumes the current races will stay on the calendar, and most of them are contracted until at least 2011. But there are some notable exceptions.
Shanghai’s contract to hold the Chinese Grand Prix runs out after next year’s race. There have been rumours the event could remain on the calendar but move to a different location – such as Beijing – but nothing concrete has emerged yet.
In six years the race hasn’t attracted much of a crowd beyond those brought in to occupy a fraction of the circuit’s enormous capacity. The organisers have given up trying to sell seats around turn 13, which has been given over to a massive Expo 2010 advert for the past two seasons (which even appears in the official F1 video game).
Having a Chinese round was popular with car manufacturers because of the huge opportunity to sell cars in China. But with Honda, BMW and Toyota (and possibly Renault) all quitting the sport that demand may have lessened.
Another race suffering poor attendance is the Turkish Grand Prix, which has a contract for races in 2010 and 2011. There’s still time for both these events to get extensions on their contracts, but the fact they haven’t already speaks volumes.
To 20 races?
Circuits come and go from the calendar. Taking a long view the calendar has grown over the past decade, but quite slowly.
This incremental growth is beginning to come up against opposition from teams who feel their personnel can’t be stretched to covering many more races than they are already doing.
Perhaps one day teams could rotate multiple races crews in much the same way they used to have separate test and race teams, allowing them to cover more races. However that would require them to hire more staff, putting costs up again.
It’s one of F1′s trickier problems to solve. How would you tackle it? Or do you think the calendar doesn’t need to get any bigger?
Image (C) BMW ag
wasiF1 said on 8th December 2009, 11:13
I am some of the few who demanded 20 race calender for the past 6 months or so,happy we are closing on it.If India & France joins next season then we may have 21 races next season.I don’t like the idea of each country trying to host 2 races as Spain is doing with no good results.So next season rip of Valencia & add India,France with USA on the calendar.If possible San Marino,Austria & Portugal.
João Pedro CQ said on 8th December 2009, 11:15
Here in Portugal we have a new track, the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. When in the beggining of 2009 we had the Formula One tests there, many drivers, including Fernando Alonso, who gave an interview to RTP, sad that the circuit was very nice. We are so hopeful of having a Grand Prix that we even have a petition to make it comeback. I think that a Portuguese Grand Prix only has a chance when Ecclestone goes away
Ciaran said on 8th December 2009, 14:19
I went to that circuit over the summer, it looked very good. Pity is, I don’t see it being able to go on the F1 calendar any time soon.
Daniel said on 8th December 2009, 12:05
Like you said, the equation is quite simple: a longer calendar means higher costs, even if they try to pair every flyaway race in “double-headers”… the strange thing is Bahrain and Abu Dhabi and Malaysia and Singapore are very far from each other in the calendar, and that would be much more inteligente to make them successive races, in termos of cost-benefit.
For that, we would need to revive the Argentine and the USA rounds, to be paired with the Brazilian and Canadian Grand Prix…
Daniel said on 8th December 2009, 12:06
Like you said, the equation is quite simple: a longer calendar means higher costs, even if they try to pair every flyaway race in “double-headers”… the strange thing is Bahrain and Abu Dhabi and Malaysia and Singapore are very far from each other in the calendar, and that would be much more inteligent to make them successive races, in termos of cost-benefit.
For that, we would need to revive the Argentine and the USA rounds, to be paired with the Brazilian and Canadian Grand Prix…
ciaran said on 8th December 2009, 12:07
I actually like Malysia because of its unpredictabilty.Remember 2001.Also it has a great long straight and a few fast corners.
jose said on 8th December 2009, 12:10
20 races is a nice round number. They don’t have tests, so they have time to go and do more races.
Jim said on 8th December 2009, 12:18
20 Races is a reasonable limit I think. Also, no country should have more than one race per year. Personally, circuits I don’t want are (If you ignore any commercial considerations): Bahrain, Singapore, Budapest, Shanghai, Valencia.
There. That will free up some slots for a few more dull Tilke-dromes in a pointless country that a couple of sheikhs and a tumbleweed will go to (But its fine because the facilities will no doubt be excellent).
theRoswellite said on 8th December 2009, 12:23
Too many races? That is a complaint?
That’s like a business complaining because they have too many customers.
Any discussion concerning this subject needs to be cleared through the Bernie Ecc website…..
No other opinions matter.
PJA said on 8th December 2009, 13:21
During the recent postal strikes here in the UK, I remember one news report saying that some delivery firms were only accepting business from existing customers because they wouldn’t be able to cope with the extra orders at such short notice.
It is similar in F1, if there are many more races teams will have to employ a second team of mechanics etc.
A Singh said on 8th December 2009, 13:10
It’s great when the calendar has lots of back to back races like last year. Ideally, the season should pan out as much as possible – like this year, stretching into November.
What would be the best would be a 25 race calendar. I wouldn’t mind two 3-week gaps in the middle of it – it would save cost and make the season seem to last ages.
rampante said on 8th December 2009, 13:44
I seem to be the only person here who thinks 20 is too many. The numbers have been moved about over the years but I have always thought 16 was about right. I miss it as much as antone when it is not on but my reasons for this are that I want it to remain within “motorsport” and not become a traveling pantomime as it is becoming just now. 16 races with the Thursday of the weekend a test day for test drivers and development. Cut this cost c**p F1 is and never was a cheap sport.
Steve_P83 said on 8th December 2009, 13:50
I say about 20 races is the right number. I would love to see a lot more than 20 races on the calendar, but I understand it would get a little difficult for race crews. I really think that no country should have more than one GP. One of the Spanish GPs should be dropped and replaced with a circuit in a different country (USA??). Also, as some of the lower attended circuits (Turkey) drop off of the calendar they can be replaced and races will naturally move around different parts of the world to new expensive circuits. Then, all we have to do is wait a few years for those circuits to fail and we’ll get to see a new one after that!
Mahir C said on 8th December 2009, 14:26
I say drop Malaysia, Bahrain, China, Valencia and possibly Turkey although I’m Turkish. Although I think it is the best Tilke track out there, attendance is very low and Turkish people have lost interest in F1.
In Turkey, F1 was synonymous with Schumacher, when he quit a lot of people simply quit watching as well. Unless F1 creates a new Schumacher, I dont see the interest picking up.
That said, I dont see what the new GPs like South Korea and India will bring to F1 either.
gc.it said on 8th December 2009, 16:11
attendance low, but very good track and always very interesting races. Drop the others if you can but let the Turkey in, please :-D
rampante said on 8th December 2009, 14:35
@ Mahir C, He was the first one in 60 years. People like Schumacher are not like busses they don’t come two at a time.
gc.it said on 8th December 2009, 15:31
I also think some races could be out in 2011. Anyway, according to my researches, next year will be the first one in F1 history with less races in Europe then in the rest of the world ;-)
sykes said on 8th December 2009, 15:54
Can we just race in Spa 20 times? I’d prefer that tho the snorefest that passes for racing at other tracks.