Administrator Stan Posted November 10, 2020 Administrator Share Posted November 10, 2020 Calendar for next season's F1 to be announced later today. Vietnam GP in doubt as that race weekend will be left blank due to a key official in the country being arrested... https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/54879815 Quote The Vietnamese Grand Prix has been dropped from the 2021 Formula 1 calendar, BBC Sport has learned. It raises doubts that the race, due to make its debut in April before it was called off because of the coronavirus pandemic, will ever take place. The date of the Vietnam race, 25 April, has been left blank on a 22-race 2021 schedule to be published on Tuesday. The calendar could extend to 23 Grands Prix - a new record - if F1 can find a replacement for Vietnam. The move has been triggered by the arrest on corruption charges of a key official responsible for the race in Hanoi. Hanoi People's Committee chairman Nguyen Duc Chung was arrested in August for alleged appropriation of documents containing state secrets. The case is not related to his involvement in the grand prix. However, Chung was the key figure in the race being introduced and championed it with the national government. His absence has led to a vacuum and Vietnamese authorities have told F1 that the government has other priorities, including key elections, the pandemic and recovery from a typhoon. Talks are ongoing with regard to a possible race in Vietnam in 2022, but the situation raises the significant possibility that the event will fail to materialise. Any replacement race would be at one of the tracks added to the calendar this year as a result of the pandemic, with Turkey, Italy's Imola and Portugal's Portimao the leading candidates. A spokesperson for F1 said: "Our calendar will be announced on Tuesday and we are not going to give a running commentary before its publication. It also needs to go to the FIA World Motor Sport Council for approval." The 2021 season, the schedule for which has been seen by BBC Sport, is scheduled to start in Australia on 21 March and end in Abu Dhabi on 5 December. The British Grand Prix at Silverstone is on 18 July and the new Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, announced last week, the penultimate race on 28 November. One key development is that the calendar features a race in Brazil, and that it is scheduled to be in Sao Paulo rather than Rio De Janeiro. The event is listed as provisional for now. The contract for Sao Paulo's Interlagos track, which has hosted the event since 1990, ended this year, and F1 has agreed a deal for a race at a new circuit yet to be built in the Deodoro area of Rio. However, the Rio track requires environmental approval as it involves the felling of a patch of forest. This has not yet been granted and the project is clouded in controversy and confusion, with world champion Lewis Hamilton among those indicating their opposition to the track being built. F1 is therefore planning to return to Sao Paulo - at least for 2021 and possibly for the foreseeable future. F1 has political complications in returning to Interlagos, as the sport's owner Liberty Media refuses to deal with the promoter at the circuit, who is close to former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone. The race is likely to go ahead with a new promoter. Otherwise, the calendar bears a strong resemblance to the original 2020 schedule, which had to be restructured after the first 10 races were called off as a result of the pandemic. The biggest change is the moving of the Dutch Grand Prix from the spring to 5 September, where it follows a week after the neighbouring Belgian event. The race at the seaside town of Zandvoort had been due to return for the first time since 1985 this April, but was a casualty of the pandemic. F1 is confident that it will be able to run its calendar next year, as long as the global pandemic does not significantly worsen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan Posted November 10, 2020 Author Administrator Share Posted November 10, 2020 21 March: Australia (Melbourne) 28 March: Bahrain (Sakhir) 11 April: China (Shanghai) 25 April: TBC 9 May: Spain (Barcelona) 23 May: Monaco 6 June: Azerbaijan (Baku) 13 June: Canada (Montreal) 27 June: France (Le Castellet) 4 July: Austria (Spielberg) 18 July: Britain (Silverstone) 1 August: Hungary (Hungaroring) 29 August: Belgium (Spa) 5 September: Netherlands (Zandvoort) 12 September: Italy (Monza) 26 September: Russia (Sochi) 3 October: Singapore (Marina Bay) 10 October: Japan (Suzuka) 24 October: USA (Austin) 31 October: Mexico (Mexico City) 14 November: Brazil (Sao Paulo) * 28 November: Saudi Arabia (Jeddah) 5 December: Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina) * = provisional pending promoter agreement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan Posted November 10, 2020 Author Administrator Share Posted November 10, 2020 Confirmed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ Posted November 10, 2020 Subscriber Share Posted November 10, 2020 Way too many races. Also, no Vietnam No Germany, no Mugello, no Portimao. Wonder where Race 4 will take place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eco Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 KSA is new to the calendar no? Is that a good track? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan Posted November 10, 2020 Author Administrator Share Posted November 10, 2020 2 minutes ago, Eco said: KSA is new to the calendar no? Is that a good track? It is. Bit of dispute if there should even be a race there due to the human rights issues that are prevalent there. Zandvoort is technically new as it didn't get to have a race this year as planned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ Posted November 10, 2020 Subscriber Share Posted November 10, 2020 1 hour ago, Eco said: KSA is new to the calendar no? Is that a good track? It will be a street curcuit in Jeddah, reportedly a night race too. Not many details regarding the layout yet. From 2023 onwards, the race in Saudi Arabia is supposed to be in the new purpose built Qiddiya circuit. I'm quite curious about that one, as it's being built by Alexander Wurz, and I hold him in a very high regard. The choice of the country is highly questionable of course, but then I don't know why people look for any sort of morals in FIA/F1 anyway; it's a pure money making machine. The only thing they are capable of is meaningless hashtag activism that changes absolutely nothing but keeps part of the fanbase happy. #WeRaceAsOne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eco Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 1 minute ago, nudge said: It will be a street curcuit in Jeddah, reportedly a night race too. Not many details regarding the layout yet. From 2023 onwards, the race in Saudi Arabia is supposed to be in the new purpose built Qiddiya circuit. I'm quite curious about that one, as it's being built by Alexander Wurz, and I hold him in a very high regard. The choice of the country is highly questionable of course, but then I don't know why people look for any sort of morals in FIA/F1 anyway; it's a pure money making machine. The only thing they are capable of is meaningless hashtag activism that changes absolutely nothing but keeps part of the fanbase happy. #WeRaceAsOne Yeah, I saw a story from the ME about the circuit and it sounds cool. And yes, why stop at the FIA, when you have FIFA and all major sports organizations willing to put their sport in the ME despite them preaching 'human rights'. It's all a money grab. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Tommy Posted March 18, 2021 Moderator Share Posted March 18, 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskey Posted March 18, 2021 Share Posted March 18, 2021 It looks absolutely shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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