The calendar is set with 23 races
Formula 1 confirmed on Tuesday that the season will definitively consist of 23 races. Therefore, China is out, as it wanted to regain its spot on the calendar a little later in the season.
The 2023 season hadn’t even started and its calendar was already a puzzle. The reason being: the Chinese Grand Prix had been cancelled, due to restrictions related to the disastrous zero-Covid policy. However, the Chinese region later expressed its wish to return to the season.
The record of 24 rounds will not be broken, as the Far East stage will not be added or replaced this season. This was confirmed by F1 on its official website on Monday, two months before the start of the season.
To replace China, talks had been initiated with Portimao, which has hosted the premier category in 2020 and 2021. As a result, France could have also made a comeback, but neither country will feature in the championship stages.
The championship will still have a busy schedule: out of the 23 races, there will be two sets of three races in three weeks each: the first triple header will run from May 21st to June 4th, including Imola, Monaco, and Barcelona; the second one will take place from October 22nd to November 5th, featuring Austin, Sao Paulo, and Las Vegas.
