F1 CEO announces MAJOR shakeup for race calendar

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F1 News & Gossip

F1 CEO announces MAJOR shakeup for race calendar

The Formula 1 calendar has been an ever-expanding entity in recent seasons

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Friday 8 November 2024 16:57

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Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has confirmed that a major announcement about the current F1 calendar is coming 'very soon'.

The F1 calendar has been growing fast in recent seasons, with venues including Saudi Arabia, Miami and Las Vegas all being added to the ever-growing season.

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2024 has been the longest season in F1 history, with 24 races taking place across 21 countries, with three races in the US thanks to the sport's ever-growing popularity in the American market.

On top of this, several tracks have been mooted to either return or newly join the calendar, including South Africa, Argentina, Thailand and Madrid, with iconic locations such as Malaysia and Germany being kicked off the calendar in recent years.

The South African GP could be set to make a return

The popularity of Franco Colapinto has made the return of the Argentinian GP a possibility

F1 boss set to announce calendar changes

With so many iconic former race locations, as well as several new tracks wanting to feature on the calendar, Domenicali has attempted to come up with a solution.

The former Ferrari boss has suggested that some European tracks could be rotated bi-annually, so to ensure a fair representation of the rest of the world, potentially making space for the much-called for South African GP to make a return.

Speaking on a Liberty Media investors call, Domenicali revealed his plans: "We have some news to share very, very soon with regard to the possibility in the mid-term to have some rotational European Grand Prix and some other new options coming later.

"This is something that, of course, we will clarify in the due course. It is true that we have a large demand of new possible venues that wants to come in and our choice will always be balanced between the right economical benefits that we can have as a system and also to leverage in the growth on the market that we can see potential that will be beneficial for us to grow even further our business."

Speaking about the current length of the F1 calendar, which has been criticised in recent months, Domenicali said: "We believe that the balance we have in terms of numbers is the right one, so 24 is the balanced number that we feel is right."

F1 Red Bull Carlos Sainz Williams Stefano Domenicali