The 2025 System 1 season remains to be weeks away however subsequent 12 months’s grand prix schedule is near being finalised.
Yesterday F1 introduced it had reached a brand new cope with the Belgian Grand Prix promoters to return to Spa-Francorchamps subsequent 12 months.
With a brand new race in Madrid on account of be part of the schedule subsequent 12 months, which means 22 of the 24 slots on the 2026 F1 calendar have been accounted for. Three races on the present schedule are but to ink offers for subsequent season. So which ones is most vulnerable to lacking out?
Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, Imola
The Covid-19 pandemic handed many European venues a chance to briefly be part of the F1 calendar. The Nurburgring, Autodromo do Algarve and Mugello all briefly hosted races.
However solely Imola efficiently used its race as a platform to safe a longer-term deal past the disrupted 2020 and 2021 seasons. F1 handed it a deal to host races till no less than this 12 months.
In consequence Italy now has two rounds of the world championship, because it beforehand did between 1981 and 2006. However that won’t final.
Italy’s different F1 venue, Monza, has heritage on its aspect. It has solely been absent from the F1 calendar as soon as because the world championship started. Monza will proceed to carry races till no less than 2031 having prolonged its deal final 12 months.
However what of Imola? Its 2023 race didn’t go forward on account of flooding, and the promoters had been hopeful that may entitle them to a spot on the 2026 calendar. That’s but to be confirmed, nonetheless.
Past that, a chance exists for Imola to return as a part-time race. Yesterday System One Administration introduced the Belgian Grand Prix will solely be held in odd-numbered years from 2027, leaving open the likelihood F1 might return to Imola in 2028 and 2030.
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Mexican Grand Prix, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Crimson Bull’s choice to drop Sergio Perez was a blow to the promoters of the Mexican Grand Prix, as there won’t be a house driver on the grid for this 12 months’s race. It stays to be seen how considerably the lack of Perez will have an effect on ticket gross sales for the race, as F1 has had no less than one Mexican driver in its subject yearly because the race returned to the F1 calendar in 2015 after a 23-year absence.
Given the lack of a ‘banker’ star draw akin to Perez, it might be no shock if the promoters obtained chilly ft concerning the prices of bringing F1 again. They produce other choices to showcase native expertise in top-level collection: NASCAR will race on the monitor for the primary time in June, bringing Mexican Daniel Suarez. IndyCar has raced there earlier than and would carry Monterrey’s Pato O’Ward in the event that they return.
Nevertheless there may be one key issue within the race’s favour in the event that they hope to proceed internet hosting F1. Claudia Sheinbaum, who helped agree the final deal to maintain the race going when she was mayor of Mexico Metropolis, was elected the nation’s president in October.
Las Vegas Grand Prix, Las Vegas Strip Circuit
The Las Vegas Strip Circuit doesn’t formally have a deal in place for F1 to proceed racing in 2026, however there are few obstacles to the occasion securing a contract extension. In spite of everything, that is the one spherical of the world championship promoted by System One Administration itself.
F1 introduced a three-year deal for the race starting in 2023. Nevertheless the town later gave F1 permission to proceed utilizing the general public roads it requires for its races till no less than 2032. This approval is simply granted for “the week previous to the Thanksgiving vacation in November”, so the race will proceed to be held in the identical calendar slot.
It could due to this fact be a shock to see the Las Vegas Grand Prix drop from the calendar. Though there may be some native stress from companies who’re sad concerning the disruption it causes, it isn’t prone to jeopardise a contract extension for a race F1 has invested vital sums in launching.
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25 races?
There may be an alternative choice to F1 eliminating one among these races: It might lengthen the calendar but once more.
System One Administration CEO Stefano Domenicali has repeatedly acknowledged he doesn’t want to transcend 24 races. However the F1 calendar has been prolonged so many occasions previously it might be silly to rule out the likelihood it might occur once more.
The assorted agreements which bind FOM, the FIA and the groups are up for renewal on the finish of this 12 months, so the chance for the calendar to be expanded past the present most exists.
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