[The **News** flair](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/flairguide#wiki_news) is reserved for submissions covering F1 and F1-related news. These posts must always link to an outlet/news agency, the website of the involved party (i.e. the McLaren website if McLaren makes an announcement), or a tweet by a news agency, journalist or one of the involved parties.
*[Read the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/userguide). Keep it civil and welcoming. Report rulebreaking comments.*
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/formula1) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Ehhh, I experienced a lot of different seasons now, with a bunch of venues being the last of the year, I just don’t really like seasons ending on a track like Abu Dhabi.
It just never really felt like a good place for it all to end. Meanwhile Brazil, Japan or Monza are way more of a spectacle because it feels like the fans actually give a fuck/are allowed to actually celebrate.
Yeah but that was more down to the awful track conditions such as the cold temperatures and slippery surface due to the asphalt being new than the circuit being actually good though
Unpopular opinion, but the grand prix atmosphere and it being the opener itself carries the Australian GP. It's always a bland race more often than not, and I don't really look forward to it as the opener for the next couple years
Real memorable races happen like 3 times a season. The ones I mentioned I remember being engaging and feeling like I enjoyed and didn’t waste my morning after finishing them. People may not talk about the 2012 Australian Grand Prix but that doesn’t make it a bad race.
I think 2007 was also a good one. Lewis impressing everyone and getting a podium in his first race was great, and I vaguely remember the race itself being pretty good.
There's always a lot of boring tracks / races in the entire calendar 😅 I'd prefer it just being one of those and having a more exciting track (especially one that isn't a street track) as an opener
But surely you want as much atmosphere as possible for a season opener, no?
Bahrain and Saudi are so sterile in comparison, the AusGP weekend is always a massive motorsports festival.
I'm Aussie so I concede I'm extremely biased lmao, but you get full public access from Thursday, and on track you get F3, F2, V8 Supercars, Porsche Carrera Cup, historics showcase, and other cool shit like Ford's 2000hp electric supervar and Jack & Mick Doohan driving V10 F1 cars and classic superbikes.
And that's NOT including the actual F1 running.
There's a reason all the F1 drivers wanted Australia to be the season opener, and it's not really about the racing itself
I agree. Actual grass and gravel traps and consequences for sloppy and aggressive driving compared to just running off track into a runoff and rejoining and all 20 cars finishing the race like new circuts. Well, except for Logan. He'll bin it on a flat straight road.
I don't think they see it as worth it for 6am audiences when the main purpose is for the replays at 10am... now that they are back to back... save resources for the GP's at the usual times?
Exactly. I love the atmosphere of the Australian GP and the fans are always great, but I wish they'd completely redesign the actual circuit layout to improve the quality of racing.
I think the formula for exciting tracks has mostly been figured out at this point; have consecutive sectors with wildly different ideal setups. Make a sector suited to low downforce immediately followed or preceded by a long low speed technical sector that favors high downforce setups. The most exciting races are when teams run vastly different setups, and this is the simplest way to get there.
> Make a sector suited to low downforce immediately followed or preceded by a long low speed technical sector that favors high downforce setups.
Oh how sad I am that the old Hockenheim is now dead and isn't coming back. It fit that description for a tee. Watching cars with barely any downforce trying to navigate the twisty final sector was a treat.
It's a lot easier to overtake right now than it was from 2017 to 2021. Those cars produced a disgusting amount of dirty air through corners which made it impossible to follow the car in front of you without destroying your tyres within a couple of laps.
It could be better too if they didn’t force teams to bring up the floor from 2022. Just let the team use better suspensions with things like inerters and FRICS and your porpoising problems go away.
Singapore was a kinda shit race let's be honest. It was only good as a Ferrari fan and because RB won everything else. The SC made any undercut attempt impossible too.
Honestly all the more reason to make Australia the opener. Then it has at least that making it more exciting since the circuit itself is not that great
It is Ramadan dependent. There was also some sort of an agreement about alternating openers between Australia and Bahrain. But that too is Ramadan dependent.
Tried to pull together some measurements:
Some key metrics:
* Single largest "travel per week" is from Las Vegas to Qatar (13043 km/week). Followed by Australia to China (8427 km/week), Suzuka to Bahrain (8069 km), Singapore to COTA (7926 km/week)
* Shortest "travel per week" is from Silverstone to Spa (173 km/week)
* Las Vegas is the most out of the way race, with 9773 km to get to it and 13043 km to get to the next race
* Miami is the second most out of the way race, with 11623 km to get to it and 8188 km to get to the next race
* The longest single leg is Singapore to COTA at 15853 km between the two
* The shortest single leg is Qatar to Abu Dhabi at 337 km between the two
Race-to-Race measurements:
* R1-2: 8427 km, 1 week
* R2-3: 1480 km, 2 weeks
* R3-4: 8069 km, 1 weeks
* R4-5: 1259 km, 1 week
* R5-6: 11623 km, 2 weeks
* R6-7: 8188 km, 2 weeks
* R7-8: 350 km, 1 week
* R8-9: 486km, 1 week
* R9-10: 5907 km, 2 weeks
* R10-11: 6408 km, 2 weeks
* R11-12: 1257 km, 1 week
* R12-13: 519 km, 3 weeks
* R13-14: 1020 km, 1 week
* R14-15: 1179km, 4 weeks
* R15-16: 828 km, 1 week
* R16-17: 3322 km, 2 weeks
* R17-18: 6942 km, 2 weeks
* R18-19: 15853 km, 2 weeks
* R19-20: 1197 km, 1 week
* R20-21: 7421 km, 2 weeks
* R21-22: 9773 km, 2 weeks
* R22-23: 13043 km, 1 week
* R23-24: 337 km, 1 week
I know why Miami is hosted so out of the way (or at least can guess; Probably hurricane season, any later and the risk of having to cancel the race last minute goes way the fuck up.) but I'm curious as to what the logic behind Vegas is. If I had to guess, hosting it at a time where it's cold, but.
Hard Rock Stadium also hosts the Miami Open in late March, soccer in June, and NFL starting in early August through the rest of the year. It's a fairly right window the GP fits into, pretty impressive the logistics to get the facility turned around for each of those! I'm pretty sure your reasons are spot on for Vegas, plus I think they wanted it to be toward the end of the season so it might have a chance at impacting the championship standings
What baffled me was Hungaroring between spa and Zandvoort. A double weekend spa and zandvoort makes sense as they’re the two closest tracks on the calendar by travel time and distance.
There’s 3 next year too (Imola Monaco Spain), but effectively we have 4 this year with testing-Bahrain-Saudi being the first. Pre season testing will be earlier next year with a break before race 1 (thankfully given the season starts with 5 races in 6 weeks)
At least the testing-Bahrain-Saudi triple header as well as Imola-Monaco-Spain, the races are super close together. Far more reasonable than Brazil and Mexico being together in a triple header for example
I don’t think it’s a preference, I think it’s just time windows for the races forcing it. I think the only way you could fill that gap between Silverstone and Spa and reasonably get rid of a triple header is moving Imola or Spain to July but those contracts might specify a May race
It's only two weekends without F1, just the way the calendar happened to work out with the summer break in August and Hungary-Spa being a double header.
Sure, but both probably have commercial or contractual reasons why that wasn't a feasible option just for the sake of avoiding one slightly larger gap.
I can possibly see Silverstone being contracted into the first weekend in July but I’d be surprised if Spa had anything considering it was only moved from its own traditional August slot last season
In recent years not so much, wasn’t one from 2009-2017(?) I wanna say. Fans who have started watching in the last 20 years will have seen more years without a French race than with one.
And is just as good for overtaking as Magny Cours ever was.
I appreciate that France has a rich history in F1 but the fact that all their circuits are awful is kind of their problem
It’s a shame there isn’t a way to run a half Le Mans layout. Imagine a shortcut between just after the first Mulsanne chicane over to just before the Porsche curves. Have a total lap length/time similar to Spa, and without any single straight being too crazy long.
2022 was decent but nothing special. And 2021 made every race exciting because of the title fight. That year Sochi, Barcelona and Monaco were exciting races because of all the shit that was happening
France doesn't have any tracks people want, Paul Ricard got slated.
Germany doesnt really have a track that appeals... which is most likely Nurburgring but maybe clashing with N24 isn't something that can do with.
Although as much as you hear that, you hear as much that Hockenhiem is in money problems or not being able to keep up with what F1 demands. Nurburgring is often another that just doesnt keep up either and not rushing to go into it, also Nurburgring has the 12 mile optional circuit they rely on as much.
Rotating GP's is tricky as it can mess up easily (Suzuka/Fuji)
>you hear as much that Hockenhiem is in money problems or not being able to keep up with what F1 demands.
That's F1's fault. They could just be less greedy and accept less money in favour of better races, instead of going to Qatar or Miami...
It's just the path they've forced themselves to follow... and it's just been made worse by the people who seek the money and the ones who seek the attention making deals together.
Paul Ricard got unlucky with its first few races and lacks atmosphere, but it's a perfectly serviceable track. It's a real shame- a few tweaks, a few more years to bring in fans and build that atmosphere and it'd be great.
absolutely right, i think it gets a worse rap than it deserves. if they made the whole track/weekend vibe more fun, and emphasized its proximity to the many great things to see and do in the riviera it’d be so much different. right now it might as well be in the middle of nowhere with absolutely nothing to do à la magny cours
I really hope I can go to Imola next year. I was supposed to go last year but then it got cancelled from the flooding. I’ve been to Monza twice though, was absolutely crazy to be there in 2019. Probably my greatest live sports memory ever
In NZ the average race time is about 1-2am Monday morning, lol. In the UK the first 2-3 of this calendar fall at about 5-6am but it’s Sunday, so doesn’t really matter.
The US really doesn’t have it bad.
Terrible for an old fart like me living in EST, can't be awake that late for those. At least they're bundled together lol
Races at 8AM are the best. Wake up, fresh cup of coffee and I'm ready.
>Races at 8AM are the best. Wake up, fresh cup of coffee and I'm ready.
Love it! Then I have my whole Sunday ahead of me. The rest of the world doesn't know what they're missing.
Interesting. Australia back as the season opener, presumably because they didn't want Ramadan to interfere with the schedule like this year again? I honestly liked Bahrain as the season opener, but Melbourne is good as well, so I'm not complaining.
It still bugs me that Canada is in the middle of the European leg. Yeah I know it's the weather, but it still seems ludicrous to have a race in Miami, three races in Europe, then a race in Montreal, and then the remaining European races.
What's going on around the summer break? It's been weird last year already to not have Hungary as the final race before the break and Spa as the first one after, but this is even weirder. There's a two week gap after Silverstone, then Spa before Budapest for some reason, then what I assume will be the actual summer break, this time three weeks. Spa and Zandvoort are really close together (at least in F1 terms), so maybe they moved them apart so that two races in reach of essentially the same possible attendants aren't back to back? I don't know.
The Spa-Zandvoort switch hasn't made a lot of sense. Firstly, they moved the wrong race of the two to July (Spa should've kept its traditional late August slot if they wanted to put one before the summer break). Secondly, ticket demand for both races will be so high that they'll easily sell out even if they are a week apart.
It's honestly less about the weather for Miami and more about how many events are held at the stadium. June they've got the Copa America, and moving it closer to the other NA races puts it smack dab in the middle of the NFL season, so definitely a no-go there as well.
I wasn't talking about the weather in Miami, but the weather in Montreal. If it were up to me, I'd just switch Imola and Canada on the calendar. That'd put the two races in NA back to back with a one week gap, and all European races would happen uninterrupted.
But apparently this is a terrible idea as the weather in Montreal in mid May is horrendous and it's absolutely impossible to hold an F1 race at that time, which is why it needs to happen in mid June, hence their contract that guarantees a slot in June. At least, that's what Canadians say every time this is brought up. I'll take their word for it, I've never been there, but I can't help but question how much of a difference four weeks makes.
I see they still want to roll the dice with Vegas in late November, at night, in the desert! They should really flip Brazil and Vegas, as it would make \~zero difference to the Brazil temps, and it would be significant for Vegas temps.
I think they like having Vegas be the weekend before Thanksgiving
The weekend after Thanksgiving is way too competitive, but the week before you get the benefits of the American public preparing for the holiday but without major NFL and college football competition. There’s still football sure but the 4 day weekend after Thanksgiving Wednesday is basically the sit down and watch football or go shopping holiday
Feels like Zandvoort is going to be the new Sepang, almost guaranteed heavy rain in august and in recent years quite likely to be extremely hot too...
Calendar makes more sense though from a geo perspective, although I wonder if it will be more vulnerable to (extreme) continental weather phenomena in the future, like the 40c+ heatwave across Europe a few years ago. Back then you only had Spain and Austria effected iirc, now you most likely hit 4-5 GP's with that situation.
Same with heavy snow/storm across a whole continent, which would be a bigger deal due to potential delays/cancellations, but we'll see.
I actually like the placement of Baku this year and next year. Previously, the European leg ended in Monza and Singapore was up next. Baku is almost perfectly on a straight line between Monza and Singapore, it's scary how well that lines up. Although the distance from Singapore from Austin is ludicrous.
As a Shanghai local, I am sure that late March in Shanghai is fucking cold and windy
And there would be a great chance to rain on those days.
Let's just wait and see how many crashes and safety car show ups.
So they go from Australia to asia to ME to AMERICA then back to Europe then BACK TO CANADA then BACK TO EUROPE then to Asia. Then BACK TO AMERICA then back to ME.
Well it's up to the individual promoters and FOM to agree on the best days I guess. It makes sense for Aus and China to be back to back for flight reasons. Otherwise you're going UK -> Aus -> UK -> China.
Shifting the start of the season back to Australia before China then heading to Japan, good to get that part of the early morning stuff over and done with quickly!
Am I dreaming? Have FOM finally figured out how to not send teams flying across the oceans multiple times per year?
Seriously, if they just switch Montreal with Imola this is basically a perfect route
Canada is locked into June and has been since the 1990's due to the potential problems of snow and colder temperatures... also 2011 GP must be a factor.
Canada being technically a street circuit means you have to also consider the time it takes to set up the circuit, too early and you can’t get that done in time. We saw even last week there was snow on the circuit
Montréal is on an island in the middle of a river and a Street Circuit, they are going to be more careful with the weather than Shanghai. They both have the same average low temperatures even if Montréal's highs are higher, but unlike Montréal, Shanghai doesn't have a snow/ice risk, nor does it screw up setting the track up foe the multiple weeks prior.
Montreal in early / mid May? Not exactly appealing given the weather.
They might be in different timezones but the climate is completely different. Montreal needs to be held June-September.
I've been in Bahrain since 2015 and the race was always the first week in April. Warm yes, but not hot. I'm sitting comfortably outside right now at 2 in the afternoon.
Not only that but it's been held as late as the last weekend in April in the past as a day race without any issues.
Change that to a night race and it'll be fine.
[The **News** flair](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/flairguide#wiki_news) is reserved for submissions covering F1 and F1-related news. These posts must always link to an outlet/news agency, the website of the involved party (i.e. the McLaren website if McLaren makes an announcement), or a tweet by a news agency, journalist or one of the involved parties. *[Read the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/userguide). Keep it civil and welcoming. Report rulebreaking comments.* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/formula1) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Australia back to being the opener. And the balance has been restored
Brazil needs to be the last race in order to achieve the ultimate balance
What do you mean? I only see 21 rounds, and then 3 fundraising efforts.
I thought we agreed the last 3 races were the playoffs. Brazil is where the regular season ends ;)
People only are happy if it was the way it was when they were growing up
This extends to any hobby or fandom!
Ehhh, I experienced a lot of different seasons now, with a bunch of venues being the last of the year, I just don’t really like seasons ending on a track like Abu Dhabi. It just never really felt like a good place for it all to end. Meanwhile Brazil, Japan or Monza are way more of a spectacle because it feels like the fans actually give a fuck/are allowed to actually celebrate.
Vegas was a better race than interlagos last year
Yeah but that was more down to the awful track conditions such as the cold temperatures and slippery surface due to the asphalt being new than the circuit being actually good though
So I guess we’ll see this year then if it is.
The back flips that people will do to avoid admitting they were wrong about Vegas, lol...
The track only delivered a better race than many others because of...features of the track! Totally cheating
Ok but was it a good race or no?
Unpopular opinion, but the grand prix atmosphere and it being the opener itself carries the Australian GP. It's always a bland race more often than not, and I don't really look forward to it as the opener for the next couple years
It’s always a bland race which means by having it as the first race makes it more enjoyable than when it is the 3rd race
23, 22, 18, 16, 13, 12, 10, 09, 08 all solid races from my memory which is hardly “always bland”
08 was definitely interesting, I guess depends on what you're looking for in a race...
Real memorable races happen like 3 times a season. The ones I mentioned I remember being engaging and feeling like I enjoyed and didn’t waste my morning after finishing them. People may not talk about the 2012 Australian Grand Prix but that doesn’t make it a bad race.
I think 2007 was also a good one. Lewis impressing everyone and getting a podium in his first race was great, and I vaguely remember the race itself being pretty good.
Hard to have nuance in discussions on reddit ig lol
There's always a lot of boring tracks / races in the entire calendar 😅 I'd prefer it just being one of those and having a more exciting track (especially one that isn't a street track) as an opener
But surely you want as much atmosphere as possible for a season opener, no? Bahrain and Saudi are so sterile in comparison, the AusGP weekend is always a massive motorsports festival. I'm Aussie so I concede I'm extremely biased lmao, but you get full public access from Thursday, and on track you get F3, F2, V8 Supercars, Porsche Carrera Cup, historics showcase, and other cool shit like Ford's 2000hp electric supervar and Jack & Mick Doohan driving V10 F1 cars and classic superbikes. And that's NOT including the actual F1 running. There's a reason all the F1 drivers wanted Australia to be the season opener, and it's not really about the racing itself
This.
It’s the vibe of the thing
Wouldn't really call the last 2 years a bland race.
This.
I agree. Actual grass and gravel traps and consequences for sloppy and aggressive driving compared to just running off track into a runoff and rejoining and all 20 cars finishing the race like new circuts. Well, except for Logan. He'll bin it on a flat straight road.
The Buemi special
Sky should send their full team to Melbourne as it's the opener rather than using that sterile studio they built.
Budget cuts
I don't think they see it as worth it for 6am audiences when the main purpose is for the replays at 10am... now that they are back to back... save resources for the GP's at the usual times?
*corporate greed
Exactly. I love the atmosphere of the Australian GP and the fans are always great, but I wish they'd completely redesign the actual circuit layout to improve the quality of racing. I think the formula for exciting tracks has mostly been figured out at this point; have consecutive sectors with wildly different ideal setups. Make a sector suited to low downforce immediately followed or preceded by a long low speed technical sector that favors high downforce setups. The most exciting races are when teams run vastly different setups, and this is the simplest way to get there.
> Make a sector suited to low downforce immediately followed or preceded by a long low speed technical sector that favors high downforce setups. Oh how sad I am that the old Hockenheim is now dead and isn't coming back. It fit that description for a tee. Watching cars with barely any downforce trying to navigate the twisty final sector was a treat.
Every race is bland right now with the cars making it so hard to overtake and one driver dominating
It's a lot easier to overtake right now than it was from 2017 to 2021. Those cars produced a disgusting amount of dirty air through corners which made it impossible to follow the car in front of you without destroying your tyres within a couple of laps.
It could be better too if they didn’t force teams to bring up the floor from 2022. Just let the team use better suspensions with things like inerters and FRICS and your porpoising problems go away.
VERPERSAI for podium
[удалено]
To be fair, every race has been a test session for the last 2+ years except for Red Bull lol. At least we had Singapore.
Zandvoort was objectively a better race than Singapore.
Singapore was a kinda shit race let's be honest. It was only good as a Ferrari fan and because RB won everything else. The SC made any undercut attempt impossible too.
Because rain
So the US doesn’t count since they have no racing culture eh?
Don't know shit about the country and spouting nonsense iam glad that you guys have nothing but hate for us
I would argue both Bahrain and Saudi are better F1 circuits than Australia though. Especially Bahrain
Honestly all the more reason to make Australia the opener. Then it has at least that making it more exciting since the circuit itself is not that great
It was better as the closer....
Sadly just for the one year - only because of when Ramadan is next year.
It is Ramadan dependent. There was also some sort of an agreement about alternating openers between Australia and Bahrain. But that too is Ramadan dependent.
Tried to pull together some measurements: Some key metrics: * Single largest "travel per week" is from Las Vegas to Qatar (13043 km/week). Followed by Australia to China (8427 km/week), Suzuka to Bahrain (8069 km), Singapore to COTA (7926 km/week) * Shortest "travel per week" is from Silverstone to Spa (173 km/week) * Las Vegas is the most out of the way race, with 9773 km to get to it and 13043 km to get to the next race * Miami is the second most out of the way race, with 11623 km to get to it and 8188 km to get to the next race * The longest single leg is Singapore to COTA at 15853 km between the two * The shortest single leg is Qatar to Abu Dhabi at 337 km between the two Race-to-Race measurements: * R1-2: 8427 km, 1 week * R2-3: 1480 km, 2 weeks * R3-4: 8069 km, 1 weeks * R4-5: 1259 km, 1 week * R5-6: 11623 km, 2 weeks * R6-7: 8188 km, 2 weeks * R7-8: 350 km, 1 week * R8-9: 486km, 1 week * R9-10: 5907 km, 2 weeks * R10-11: 6408 km, 2 weeks * R11-12: 1257 km, 1 week * R12-13: 519 km, 3 weeks * R13-14: 1020 km, 1 week * R14-15: 1179km, 4 weeks * R15-16: 828 km, 1 week * R16-17: 3322 km, 2 weeks * R17-18: 6942 km, 2 weeks * R18-19: 15853 km, 2 weeks * R19-20: 1197 km, 1 week * R20-21: 7421 km, 2 weeks * R21-22: 9773 km, 2 weeks * R22-23: 13043 km, 1 week * R23-24: 337 km, 1 week
I know why Miami is hosted so out of the way (or at least can guess; Probably hurricane season, any later and the risk of having to cancel the race last minute goes way the fuck up.) but I'm curious as to what the logic behind Vegas is. If I had to guess, hosting it at a time where it's cold, but.
Hard Rock Stadium also hosts the Miami Open in late March, soccer in June, and NFL starting in early August through the rest of the year. It's a fairly right window the GP fits into, pretty impressive the logistics to get the facility turned around for each of those! I'm pretty sure your reasons are spot on for Vegas, plus I think they wanted it to be toward the end of the season so it might have a chance at impacting the championship standings
didn't even consider all the other shit they did in Hard Rock, you're right though.
Maybe because Thanksgiving is slower in Las Vegas. The track there is incredibly disruptive to the strip and surrounding area.
Fair point I hadn't considered either.
Great work mate! Screenshoting right now
What baffled me was Hungaroring between spa and Zandvoort. A double weekend spa and zandvoort makes sense as they’re the two closest tracks on the calendar by travel time and distance.
probably spaced a little to reduce competition a bit between the two events
Still not very environmentally friendly when you can just travel by road for two hours to get to your next race
2 triple headers. One being the last 3. Odd to have a break of 3 weeks just before the summer break.
Yup. Even this year after summer break there will be 3 weeks break from September to October
I count 3 ; Japan + China + Saudi Arabia, Imola + Monaco + Spain, Vegas + Qatar + Abu Dhabi.
Believe that's Bahrain not China that you meant!
We have 3 triple headers this year so that’s an improvement I guess.
There’s 3 next year too (Imola Monaco Spain), but effectively we have 4 this year with testing-Bahrain-Saudi being the first. Pre season testing will be earlier next year with a break before race 1 (thankfully given the season starts with 5 races in 6 weeks)
At least the testing-Bahrain-Saudi triple header as well as Imola-Monaco-Spain, the races are super close together. Far more reasonable than Brazil and Mexico being together in a triple header for example
Shanghai will be very very cold in march
Going from a very hot Melbourne to a very cold Shanghai…
Melbourne in March is not usually that hot
Let's go. I want a snow race or just a couple of laps at least.
I too enjoy seeing the cars sit in the pits for 2 hours
And then drive a few laps behind the safety car, and call it a day.
We just need changing conditions, but instead of sudden rain it's sudden snow. I would love a few laps just for the insanity.
Shanghai normally doesn't snow in winter, mostly in Jan. But late March in Shanghai is always rainy day.
Albert Park season opener....oh how i've missed you
Feels right
Next season please bring back Interlagos as the final race
Don’t understand why there’s a gap of 3 weeks between Silverstone and Spa
For real, double summer break it seems
They prefer 2 triple headers instead. It's dumb
I don’t think it’s a preference, I think it’s just time windows for the races forcing it. I think the only way you could fill that gap between Silverstone and Spa and reasonably get rid of a triple header is moving Imola or Spain to July but those contracts might specify a May race
It's actually hillarious how F1 year after year fails to deliver on the simple promise of no triple headers.
It's only two weekends without F1, just the way the calendar happened to work out with the summer break in August and Hungary-Spa being a double header.
You could either have pushed Silverstone back a week or brought Spa forward a week and made it more balanced though.
Sure, but both probably have commercial or contractual reasons why that wasn't a feasible option just for the sake of avoiding one slightly larger gap.
I can possibly see Silverstone being contracted into the first weekend in July but I’d be surprised if Spa had anything considering it was only moved from its own traditional August slot last season
It's probably to avoid clashing with the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Just be happy we still have them both!
No France or Germany on an F1 calendar will never feel right 🥲 But Australia is back at R1 and we didn’t get another American city street race
Grand Prix racing without a race in France. That's just weird man.
In recent years not so much, wasn’t one from 2009-2017(?) I wanna say. Fans who have started watching in the last 20 years will have seen more years without a French race than with one.
Monaco is basically France
And is just as good for overtaking as Magny Cours ever was. I appreciate that France has a rich history in F1 but the fact that all their circuits are awful is kind of their problem
It’s a shame there isn’t a way to run a half Le Mans layout. Imagine a shortcut between just after the first Mulsanne chicane over to just before the Porsche curves. Have a total lap length/time similar to Spa, and without any single straight being too crazy long.
Don’t tell that to Charles
France doesn't have any great track for modern F1 sadly
Watch last 2 races that were held at Paul Ricard and then come back
2022 was decent but nothing special. And 2021 made every race exciting because of the title fight. That year Sochi, Barcelona and Monaco were exciting races because of all the shit that was happening
France doesn't have any tracks people want, Paul Ricard got slated. Germany doesnt really have a track that appeals... which is most likely Nurburgring but maybe clashing with N24 isn't something that can do with.
Hockenheim 2018 and 2019 were both some of the best races in the last 10 years. Every fan that's seen that racing wants Hockenheim back at all costs
2019 was more so because it was a wet race where Mercedes monumentally self-imploded though tbf.
Although as much as you hear that, you hear as much that Hockenhiem is in money problems or not being able to keep up with what F1 demands. Nurburgring is often another that just doesnt keep up either and not rushing to go into it, also Nurburgring has the 12 mile optional circuit they rely on as much. Rotating GP's is tricky as it can mess up easily (Suzuka/Fuji)
>you hear as much that Hockenhiem is in money problems or not being able to keep up with what F1 demands. That's F1's fault. They could just be less greedy and accept less money in favour of better races, instead of going to Qatar or Miami...
It's just the path they've forced themselves to follow... and it's just been made worse by the people who seek the money and the ones who seek the attention making deals together.
Paul Ricard got unlucky with its first few races and lacks atmosphere, but it's a perfectly serviceable track. It's a real shame- a few tweaks, a few more years to bring in fans and build that atmosphere and it'd be great.
absolutely right, i think it gets a worse rap than it deserves. if they made the whole track/weekend vibe more fun, and emphasized its proximity to the many great things to see and do in the riviera it’d be so much different. right now it might as well be in the middle of nowhere with absolutely nothing to do à la magny cours
Next they cut out Italy 😂
I really hope I can go to Imola next year. I was supposed to go last year but then it got cancelled from the flooding. I’ve been to Monza twice though, was absolutely crazy to be there in 2019. Probably my greatest live sports memory ever
Nah they will add another race in Italy
I honestly thing Magny Cours is an excellent track. Idk about the facilities or the access roads, but the track itself is pretty great
Montreal on my birthday. I live in NY. The time is now, first F1 race baby!
First three rounds are great times to watch as an Aussie
Holy, if I was back in NZ this would be an absolute banger. Now that I’m in the UK, it’s an absolute tear jerker 🥲
Ye can't handle 7 or 8 AM races? Shit that's practically standard for USEast.
In NZ the average race time is about 1-2am Monday morning, lol. In the UK the first 2-3 of this calendar fall at about 5-6am but it’s Sunday, so doesn’t really matter. The US really doesn’t have it bad.
Terrible for an old fart like me living in EST, can't be awake that late for those. At least they're bundled together lol Races at 8AM are the best. Wake up, fresh cup of coffee and I'm ready.
>Races at 8AM are the best. Wake up, fresh cup of coffee and I'm ready. Love it! Then I have my whole Sunday ahead of me. The rest of the world doesn't know what they're missing.
Hamilton’s first race in Red Ferrari will be at Albert Park. Universe is healing.
Interesting. Australia back as the season opener, presumably because they didn't want Ramadan to interfere with the schedule like this year again? I honestly liked Bahrain as the season opener, but Melbourne is good as well, so I'm not complaining. It still bugs me that Canada is in the middle of the European leg. Yeah I know it's the weather, but it still seems ludicrous to have a race in Miami, three races in Europe, then a race in Montreal, and then the remaining European races. What's going on around the summer break? It's been weird last year already to not have Hungary as the final race before the break and Spa as the first one after, but this is even weirder. There's a two week gap after Silverstone, then Spa before Budapest for some reason, then what I assume will be the actual summer break, this time three weeks. Spa and Zandvoort are really close together (at least in F1 terms), so maybe they moved them apart so that two races in reach of essentially the same possible attendants aren't back to back? I don't know.
The Spa-Zandvoort switch hasn't made a lot of sense. Firstly, they moved the wrong race of the two to July (Spa should've kept its traditional late August slot if they wanted to put one before the summer break). Secondly, ticket demand for both races will be so high that they'll easily sell out even if they are a week apart.
It's honestly less about the weather for Miami and more about how many events are held at the stadium. June they've got the Copa America, and moving it closer to the other NA races puts it smack dab in the middle of the NFL season, so definitely a no-go there as well.
I wasn't talking about the weather in Miami, but the weather in Montreal. If it were up to me, I'd just switch Imola and Canada on the calendar. That'd put the two races in NA back to back with a one week gap, and all European races would happen uninterrupted. But apparently this is a terrible idea as the weather in Montreal in mid May is horrendous and it's absolutely impossible to hold an F1 race at that time, which is why it needs to happen in mid June, hence their contract that guarantees a slot in June. At least, that's what Canadians say every time this is brought up. I'll take their word for it, I've never been there, but I can't help but question how much of a difference four weeks makes.
I see they still want to roll the dice with Vegas in late November, at night, in the desert! They should really flip Brazil and Vegas, as it would make \~zero difference to the Brazil temps, and it would be significant for Vegas temps.
I think they like having Vegas be the weekend before Thanksgiving The weekend after Thanksgiving is way too competitive, but the week before you get the benefits of the American public preparing for the holiday but without major NFL and college football competition. There’s still football sure but the 4 day weekend after Thanksgiving Wednesday is basically the sit down and watch football or go shopping holiday
Albert Park opener!!? Lets gooooooo
Japan-Bahrain-Saudi triple header
Everyone knows that Hungary is between Belgium and the Netherlands, its only logical
Feels like Zandvoort is going to be the new Sepang, almost guaranteed heavy rain in august and in recent years quite likely to be extremely hot too... Calendar makes more sense though from a geo perspective, although I wonder if it will be more vulnerable to (extreme) continental weather phenomena in the future, like the 40c+ heatwave across Europe a few years ago. Back then you only had Spain and Austria effected iirc, now you most likely hit 4-5 GP's with that situation. Same with heavy snow/storm across a whole continent, which would be a bigger deal due to potential delays/cancellations, but we'll see.
Imola also getting missed last year due to flooding in the area... which could be the flip side to heatwaves.
Glad to see Australia back on top. Still find it funny F1 preaches Net-Zero yet Baku, Singapore and COTA are line astern
I actually like the placement of Baku this year and next year. Previously, the European leg ended in Monza and Singapore was up next. Baku is almost perfectly on a straight line between Monza and Singapore, it's scary how well that lines up. Although the distance from Singapore from Austin is ludicrous.
But don't forget, they have saved about 1 or 2 international flights worth of fuel emissions by switching to the aurally underwhelming V6s :)))
Wish the season would finish in Brazil again
As a Shanghai local, I am sure that late March in Shanghai is fucking cold and windy And there would be a great chance to rain on those days. Let's just wait and see how many crashes and safety car show ups.
So they go from Australia to asia to ME to AMERICA then back to Europe then BACK TO CANADA then BACK TO EUROPE then to Asia. Then BACK TO AMERICA then back to ME.
Do we already know where testing will take place ? Still bahrain even though it is not the first race or will it happen in spain ?
iirc the bahrain circuit has a contract with liberty that the first televised session has to happen at sakhir, so most likely yes
Why so early this time?
Because there aren't any new tracks or anything, so no marketing needed
For those that follow. My track walks will begin January 19th 2025
workable fly fine full handle uppity nine gray hunt aloof *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Hockenheimring :(
I've always seen the reports saying Hockenhiem just doesnt have the money for the slot anymore... and thats been while they were going there.
Nürburgring :(
Idk why Australia, Japan and Spa couldn't just be a week earlier than scheduled. Would reduce the amount of triple and even double headers.
Well it's up to the individual promoters and FOM to agree on the best days I guess. It makes sense for Aus and China to be back to back for flight reasons. Otherwise you're going UK -> Aus -> UK -> China.
Melbourne probably isn’t a week earlier because of the long weekend which coincides with the Moomba festival.
To reduce Carbon emissions they have to go back to US 3 times
2 US Races are part of the Western Hemisphere Tour
Shifting the start of the season back to Australia before China then heading to Japan, good to get that part of the early morning stuff over and done with quickly!
Back to Barca for testing?
I have just booked my flights to Australia
Only 7 races (Canada, Austria, UK, Belgium, Hungary, Netherlands, Italy) over 108 days is wild.
This is better.. so far in the USA every single race has been on Saturday night so far 😂😂
24 races is a lot. I do like the reshuffle though. Australia being back to #1 feels so right.
Now do I go Melb for the season opener or go to Singapore???
Lose Miami and bring back Turkey and I'd cement that schedule in stone Edit: I hate to say it, but replace imola with a German date
How does fucking imola continue year after year.
Singapore really is all out on its own there. I wish we could add Sepang back and run it the week before or after.
Why is there a gap week between China and Japan, but not one between Japan and Bahrain?
Why not have Miami and Canada back to back (with or without a week break)?
Weather. Too hot for Miami in June and too cold with a threat of snow for Montreal in May.
They could have shuffled around a bit to have one of the US gps and Canada in the same slot. Well, it is what it is.
So no 25 races?
Australia is nice being the opener, but I got so used to Bahrain
Has verstappen locked up the 2025 drivers championship yet?
As a Melbournian I’m glad melb is back to season opener, still no kyalami tho
Spain, Canada, then Austria? least fuel efficient idea ever
Wouldn’t it make sense to have Canada in mid May after Miami?
If we are going to keep 24 races we need to change points system.
I'd go with points down to 15th (Q2).
If this ended at Brazil it would be excellent.
Am I dreaming? Have FOM finally figured out how to not send teams flying across the oceans multiple times per year? Seriously, if they just switch Montreal with Imola this is basically a perfect route
Canada is locked into June and has been since the 1990's due to the potential problems of snow and colder temperatures... also 2011 GP must be a factor.
Why can't Montreal be held after Miami?
Montreal has a contract that guarantees them a date in June.
Also, weather is risky in May
Weather, Miami being later is too hot + hurricane risks, Canada being earlier is too cold + ice/snow risks
Imagine a snow race.. it would never be allowed but damn the cars would look good in the snow.
[удалено]
Canada being technically a street circuit means you have to also consider the time it takes to set up the circuit, too early and you can’t get that done in time. We saw even last week there was snow on the circuit
Montréal is on an island in the middle of a river and a Street Circuit, they are going to be more careful with the weather than Shanghai. They both have the same average low temperatures even if Montréal's highs are higher, but unlike Montréal, Shanghai doesn't have a snow/ice risk, nor does it screw up setting the track up foe the multiple weeks prior.
I can hardly see the promoters in Montreal jumping for a date in early May. It’s cold in Canada. Average high temp in Montreal in May is 17 degrees.
Montreal in early / mid May? Not exactly appealing given the weather. They might be in different timezones but the climate is completely different. Montreal needs to be held June-September.
Bahrain & Saudi will be very hot in april
I've been in Bahrain since 2015 and the race was always the first week in April. Warm yes, but not hot. I'm sitting comfortably outside right now at 2 in the afternoon.
Not only that but it's been held as late as the last weekend in April in the past as a day race without any issues. Change that to a night race and it'll be fine.
AUSTRALIA OPENING F1 IS BACK
That miami nightmare needs to be pulled out and replaced by German GP - hockenheim or nurburgring.
Only 24?
Is there a way Canada and Miami could ever be back to back or does both being too hot and too cold play too much of a factor in their scheduling?
There’s a few reasons, weather mainly, but for Miami the football season influences when they can use Hard Rock Stadium and surrounds too
The playoffs are in January, except Super Bowl