F1 committed to 23-race "promise" - Stefano Domenicali

Domenicali at the BahrainGP — Photo: © LAT Images

Formula 1

F1 committed to 23-race "promise" - Domenicali

Record calendar a "beautiful challenge"

Sam Hall

Tuesday 8 June 2021 17:10

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F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has stated his unerring ambition to complete a record-breaking 23-grand prix calendar this year despite numerous cancellations and races with uncertain futures.

Domenicali is in the early stages of his time in control of F1 after taking over from Chase Carey earlier this year.

Under Carey's watch, F1 managed to complete a 17-race calendar last year despite the stranglehold of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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This season the Australian GP has been pushed back to November, the Chinese GP was postponed, while the Canadian and Singapore races have been cancelled.

Australia remains a doubt, as do a number of other events later in the year such as the Japanese, Brazilian and Mexican events, but Domenicali is determined to see through a 23-race schedule.

"I want to keep 23 because it has been promised," Domenicali told the BBC. "It is a matter of showing the commitment to achieve what has been discussed.

"Saying that, I want to make sure we do 23 races provided the situation we are living with Covid will not create impossible constraints in which we cannot run.

"The right situation is complicated, but you can be sure I will not give up until the last moment."

"A beautiful challenge"

F1 has options for the cancelled Singapore event, including China, Turkey - which was originally slated to replace Canada only to be called off - as well as a second race in the US.

Domenicali concedes the situation "is not easy" but he maintains there are "actions in place depending on how the situation evolves".

He added: "It would be easy to say we are ready to announce the Singapore substitute today, but what if Japan is not there? And Japan we will only know after the Olympics.

"With Australia, we will have some more news at the end of this month. So we are preparing different combinations, believing it is not easy but that it's a beautiful challenge we have."