This was an off-week for me. I had the Bathurst 1000 on my schedule a week earlier than its actually date, but I guess it is better to be a week early than a week late. I am at least prepared. However, I did not realize the MotoGP race and the Formula One race started an hour earlier than usual. Anyway, Lewis Hamilton tied Michal Schumacher's record of 91 grand prix victories. It rained at Le Mans and Ducati made history. It rained in Charlotte, NASCAR was a mess, but IMSA did quite well. The Road to Indy Series visited New Jersey and both series had titles wrapped up. We are going to start this week looking at Formula One pulling off the Nürburgring event and whether or not track of its ilk have a place on future calendars. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.
Squeezing in Events
Despite the weather, Formula One's return to the Nürburgring received a warm welcome.
People enjoyed being back at the famed German track for the first time in six years. People were excited last month to visit Mugello for the first time. Portimão, Imola and Istanbul are the next three races and there is anticipation for all three.
It is fun to do something different, especially when the Formula One schedule can remain relatively unchanged year after year. There is always the occasional new venue in Formula One, but most of those tracks are newly built, typically Hermann Tilke designed with miles of paved runoff and 22 corners squeezed into three miles of tarmac.
It is rare to get a returning venue or for Formula One to visit a historic track that has never hosted Formula One before. There is always something that gets in the way, whether that is believing the circuit isn't up to standards or lack of money. Money is the answer 99% of the time. Not many places can drop $20 million to host a Formula One race.
This year has led to a much different calendar, and one that is exciting because it is unprecedented. There was a strong belief Formula One would never visit Nürburgring or Imola again. I doubt anyone thought Mugello or Portimão would get races. Then Istanbul came in out of nowhere and Formula One decided to do a race around the Bahrain perimeter circuit.
Three of those tracks have never hosted Formula One before. Two of them had not hosted a race in the previous six to ten years. Another had not been on the calendar in 14 years. This year has been terrible across the board, but if there is one positive we can look back on and smile about is the 2020 Formula One calendar. We might not see anything like this again.
These visits to unfamiliar venues have led some to suggest Formula One should have a handful of "invitational" events, races at tracks not normally on the schedule and those races are different each year. It would allow some old venues to return, as well as allow some other newer tracks to get a race.
There are more than 22 circuits that can host Formula One, but the one issue is timing and money.
There are only so many weekends in a calendar year, and it costs a lot of money to host a Formula One race. I doubt any track would want a one-time $20 million cost. The tracks need a little more meat for that price tag.
We have seen a condensed schedule with back-to-backs are possible for Formula One and I think that is one way we can get a few more events on the schedule. Liberty Media already set the goal of 25 grand prix weekends. The original 2020 schedule was supposed to have 22 races. The goal is within reach, and there are tweaks Formula One can do to get to 25 races.
Mugello came the week after Monza, and with strategic back-to-backs, Formula One can get to 25 races while also visiting different venues and not heaping excessive travel on the teams.
Back-to-backs have become more frequent in Formula One, as the schedule has inched over 20 races. This year we even had a few back-to-back-to-back stretches. There are fewer weekends to work with and I am sure teams want to limit the number of three consecutive weekends with races, but I think there are ways for such stretches to take place and not entirely wear out the teams.
The first is hit strategic back-to-backs where it makes sense. Why couldn't Formula One have two races in Australia every three or four years? You can have Melbourne and then return to Adelaide or visit The Bend Motorsports Park or there could be another venue that pops up. Why couldn't Japan host two races every so often? Or China? Or France? Or Germany? Or the United Kingdom?
We have heard plenty of talk about a second race in the United States. Depending on location, that second US race could be tied with the Canadian Grand Prix in June or Austin in autumn, which would likely have to be a three-week stretch of Austin, the second US race and Mexico. We could also pair a race in Argentina with the Brazilian Grand Prix. Malaysia could rotate in every now and then and either pair with Vietnam at the start of the year or Singapore toward the end. We could also pair Thailand with either Asia-Pacific swing as well.
The season could also start earlier. For the last couple of years, Formula One has made preseason testing into a four-day event, normally at Barcelona. Why couldn't the first race occur immediately after testing? I know teams would hate that because they are trying out the cars for the first time and know there are massive updates that will be made, but maybe we adjust the regulations, allow the teams to test on their own for the two weeks prior to that test, schedule a four-day test from Monday to Thursday and then that Friday begin a race weekend before the season opener at the same track.
It could be a "grand premiere grand prix" each year at the start February or in the middle of February. The venue could rotate. It likely wouldn't be at Barcelona, but it could be a way for Jerez, Portimão or Estoril to end up on the schedule. A Middle East venue like the Dubai Autodromo could be a suitable location. It could rotate to a few different venues.
The "grand premiere grand prix" could also see different strategies when it comes to the new car. Even if the teams were given two weeks of free testing with their new cars ahead of the start of the season, some might decide to run the previous season's car because the new one is not fully polished and instead of going into a race weekend with something unproven, a team might go with something tried and true while others might roll the dice. That would lead to an interesting opening race. Does old faithful win out while other teams falter working out the kinks or does a team hit it out with a new car while a conservative strategy bites a team early?
The European Grand Prix could return and become a rotating event where a different track hosts it every year, similar to the UEFA Champions League Final. A track could bid and maybe it could get two years in a five-year period if it has the funding. You could see a rotation that includes races at Donington Park, Magny-Cours, the new KymiRing in Finland (which was supposed to host MotoGP this year), a return to Donington Park, and then Zolder or Valencia (Circuit Ricardo Tormo, not the street course) or Hockenheim or maybe another track pops up because they have new found belief in hosting a Formula One race. Maybe its Brno. Could you imagine Formula One at Brno?
If these "invitational" events happen, they should get a little more security than just a one-and-done. For starters, these can be Formula One races at a typical Formula One price. These have to be discounted weekends and a favorable business deal for the track. Any agreement should see a track get two or three shots, whether that is hosting a race over consecutive years or spreading the dates out over five or ten years. These tracks should get multiple chances to host an event. One event cannot be indicative of what a track has to offer. Two or three years would take into account that poor weather could affect one weekend, allow a track to have a mulligan and it would allow these tracks to learn and make improvements from year to year.
I think a lot of preconceived notions about what is possible for a grand prix weekend and an entire calendar have been obliterated this year. There are still limits. We are not going to have a grand prix every weekend, but I do believe Formula One is more open to taking chances and actually trying new things. Imola will be a two-day weekend. That could be a way to contest a few extra races without overstraining the teams. There were going to be nine European rounds in 2020. That would be 27 days on track. If there were 12 European dates and eight were two-day shows and four were three-day shows, that would be 28 days on track. You could get three more rounds and only spend one more day at a track.
There would still be setup time and travel, but if it was Monza to Mugello or Zandvoort to Zolder or Barcelona to Portimão, the teams would at least be in the neighborhood all things considered.
We are still in the pandemic and it is going to be around for a good portion of 2021. Any attempt at "invitational" races or a rotation of part-time events might be a few years away. When the time comes, the entire landscape could be different and such events could be impossible anyway. We still have to get through this, but I think many are looking to a different future once it is over and are ready to accept the change.
Champions From the Weekend
Christian Rasmussen clinched the U.S. F2000 championship with victories in the final two races from New Jersey Motorsports Park. Eduardo Barrichello won the first race of the weekend.
Sting Ray Robb clinched the Indy Pro 2000 championship with finishes of second, first and third from NJMP. Devlin DeFrancesco and Manual Sulaimán split the other two races.
The #22 United Autosport Oreca-Gibson of Filipe Albuquerque and Phil Hanson clinched the European Le Mans Series LMP2 championship with its victory at the 4 Hours of Monza, the team's third consecutive victory.
Jordi Torres won the MotoE World Cup championship with a victory and a sixth in the final weekend at Le Mans. Niki Tuuli won the second MotoE race. It was the first victory of the season for both Torres and Tuuli.
The #32 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi of Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts won the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup championship with finishes of sixth, second and second at the Barcelona season finale.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Lewis Hamilton and company, but did you know...
Danilo Petrucci won MotoGP's French Grand Prix, his first victory of the season and it was Ducati's first victory at Le Mans and in the French Grand Prix. Sam Lowes won the Moto2 race, his first victory since the 2016 Moto2 race at Aragón. Celestino Vietti won the Moto3 race, his second victory of the season.
Chase Elliott won the NASCAR Cup race from Charlotte, his third victory of the season. A.J. Allmendinger won the Grand National Series race, his second victory of the season.
The #3 Corvette of Jordan Taylor and Antonio García won the IMSA race from Charlotte, its fifth victory of the season. The #96 Turner Motorsport BMW of Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley won in the GTD class, its second victory of the season.
The #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier-Nissan of Martin Hippe and Dino Lunardi won the LMP3 class in the European Le Mans Series race from Monza. The #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Michael Broniszewski, David Perel and Nicola Cadei won the GTE class.
Dani Sordo won Rally Italia Sardegna, his second consecutive year winning the event.
René Rast swept the DTM races from Zolder.
The #163 Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini of Albert Costa and Giacomo Altoe, the #66 Attempto Racing Audi of Nicolas Schöll and Frédéric Vervisch and the #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG of Timur Boguslavskiy and Raffaele Marciello split the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Series races from Barcelona.
Nathanaël Berthon, Tom Coronel and Nicky Catsburg split the WTCC races from Slovakia.
Coming Up This Weekend
Now it is Bathurst 1000 weekend.
IMSA has Petit Le Mans.
Jonathan Rea looks to clinch his sixth World Superbike championship at the season finale in Estoril.
MotoGP is in Aragón for its first of two consecutive race weekends at the track.
DTM has its second consecutive weekend at Zolder.
NASCAR begins its semifinal round at Kansas.
Super Formula will be at Sportsland SUGO.
WTCC heads to Hungary.
