Formula One has been harmed not just by growing prices, but also by the increasingly limited availability of freight capacity.
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A more efficient timetable would address the enormous increase in freight costs, which has hurt both the F1 organization and individual teams. The sport has been harmed not just by growing prices, but also by the increasingly limited availability of freight capacity. F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali outlined the idea at his customary Saturday “coffee morning” conference with team principals in Barcelona. Although, it has been talked about in the past but it is decided to act on it from the next season.
Liberty outlined a strategy in 2019 to make the sport carbon neutral by 2030, and rationalizing the schedule is considered as an important element of that continuous commitment, alongside other steps like this year’s transition to a greater biofuel content. F1 has previously discussed streamlining the calendar by area, but it has now opted to actively pursue the issue, but any modifications will need to be agreed upon by race organizers.
While certain events have usually been grouped together, there are some calendar irregularities in the placement of several flyaway races. Miami was a solo race this season, requiring a North American journey for only one race weekend, but the following races in Baku and Montreal are back-to-back but obviously geographically separated. The 2023 calendar will make an effort to eliminate such irregularities and make the calendar more travel friendly and cost effective for everybody involved.
Read more: Formula 1 to conduct one race less in 2022 F1 calendar
Miami could be paired with Montreal, which will mean that one or the other will have to move from its 2022 date by around a month. It’s understood that Baku could be grouped in a run of races with Shanghai and Suzuka. The races in the Middle East might potentially be combined, with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia racing together at the start of the year and Qatar and Abu Dhabi racing near the end.
Although Domenicali did not go into much depth about what may happen at the discussion. One difficulty for F1 is that the COVID situation in China remains unknown, and postponing it to the end of the season provides some breathing room. Although nothing is finalized as of now and the CEO has just initiated a plan which could be more feasible for the sport, its organizers, athletes and everybody involved.
