Formula 1 unveiled its 2024 calendar on Wednesday morning, which will include 24 races. The Canadian Grand Prix, the ninth stop of the campaign, will take place from June 7-9, a week earlier than in 2023.
The first two Grands Prix of the season, in Bahrain (March 2) and Saudi Arabia (March 9), will take place on Saturday due to Ramadan. The campaign will end on December 8 in Abu Dhabi.
If no Grand Prix is canceled, it will be the longest season in the history of the championship, created in 1950. Remember that 24 races were also scheduled for 2023, but the cancellation of the Chinese Grand Prix had reduced that number to 23. Emilia-Romagna’s was also canceled due to flooding, meaning there are 22 stops this season after all.
In its efforts to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, F1 has taken a first step to regionalize its calendar in 2024, which will reduce the impact of its travels.
In this sense, the Japanese Grand Prix will not take place in September, but in April, just after that of Australia and before that of China. The Azerbaijan Grand Prix will be postponed from April to September in order to precede that of Singapore.
Finally, the Qatar and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix were placed one after the other at the very end of the season. In 2023, that of Qatar was in October and that of Abu Dhabi, at the end of November.
“We want to make the global spectacle of Formula 1 more efficient in terms of environmental sustainability and more manageable for the staff, who dedicate so much of their time to our sport,” said Federation Internationale de l’Automobile President Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
“Stefano Domenicali and his team have done an excellent job of both bringing exciting new venues in emerging markets to Formula 1 and staying true to the sport’s long and remarkable heritage. »
For his part, Domenicali, President and CEO of F1, says the migration to a more sustainable calendar will continue in the years to come “as we further streamline our operations as part of our commitment”.
The Canadian Grand Prix, which will take place between the European Grands Prix of Monaco and Spain in 2024, is therefore not yet affected by F1’s environmental measures. And it should stay that way for “the years to come,” said Canadian Grand Prix promoter François Dumontier in an interview with La Presse Canadienne journalist Alexandre Geoffrion-McInnis on Wednesday.
“We didn’t have to defend our spot on the schedule. We all have a reason why our race is held on such and such a date; in our case, it is the climate. I can’t run my race in May because I don’t have enough time to set up my stands – need I remind you how harsh our winters are here? And on the other side, the promoter of the Miami Grand Prix, for example, does not want to present his race in June, because it was already very, very hot there in May. »
According to Dumontier, completing the regionalization of F1 will be a “long-term” process.
