Earlier in the present day, Formula 1 introduced its 2024 calendar, which is especially notable thank to the truth that the sequence is claiming that it’s a “regionalized” calendar. Basically, meaning all races in, say, Europe ought to happen in a cluster, whereas the races in Asia happen in a special cluster, all to scale back emissions. But I’ll be trustworthy — I’m not seeing a ton of regionalization.
F1 2024 Calendar
- March 2: Bahrain
- March 9: Saudi Arabia
- March 24: Australia
- April 7: Japan
- April 21: China
- May 5: Miami
- May 19: Emilia Romagna
- May 26: Monaco
- June 9: Canada
- June 23: Spain
- June 30: Austria
- July 7: United Kingdom
- July 21: Hungary
- July 28: Belgium
- August 25: Netherlands
- September 1: Italy
- September 15: Azerbaijan
- September 22: Singapore
- October 20: USA
- October 27: Mexico
- November 3: Brazil
- November 23: Las Vegas
- December 1: Qatar
- December 8: Abu Dhabi
Well. In phrases of regionalization, I suppose there’s some. The Japanese Grand Prix, for instance, has lastly been moved out of hurricane season and can happen in April as a substitute of September or October; that additionally locations it simply after Australia and earlier than the alleged return of China, due to this fact reaching a certain quantity of regional focus.
Mohammed Ben Sulayem, President of the FIA, stated in a launch that “We want to make the global spectacle of Formula 1 more efficient in terms of environmental sustainability and more manageable for the traveling staff who dedicate so much of their time to our sport.”
Which is a pleasant sentiment. But I’m nonetheless taking a look at that May/June stretch that takes the F1 circus from North America to Europe after which again to North America. I’m additionally seeing Singapore happen just about in a bubble, between Azerbaijan and the United States, when it might most likely match a bit of extra fairly into that early season swing.
The determination to get regional is an attention-grabbing one from a world sport. Designing a motorsport calendar comes with a whole lot of stress concerning native logistics, local weather, journey distance, visa necessities, market oversaturation, and extra — so it does make sense why some races nonetheless stick out of the schedule’s common location development like sore thumbs. Whether or not that works for the game, although, stays to be seen.
Source: jalopnik.com