Robert Wickens (and Mark Wilkins) won again. It rained at Silverstone and a car left the ballpark. There was also a suitable winner on Sunday at Silverstone considering what was celebrated this weekend. NASCAR doesn't care about driver safety. Acura-on-Acura violence may have led to a Cadillac victory. IndyCar had a sloppy holiday weekend in Mid-Ohio. Formula E released its provisional 2023 calendar and there are no American rounds. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.
So Much Attention, So Little Time
Formula One is more popular than ever, and I am not talking because of the massive crowds at Silverstone this weekend. While there have been many races filled to the brim with race fans this season, many locations are lining up to host races.
The schedule is already at 22 races, and 2022 was originally scheduled for 23 races. Saudi Arabia and Miami are two new races. Imola and Zandvoort both returned after over a decade off the calendar. Other tracks are lining up. Some are returning races, a few are new, and there are more expressing interest. These new locations will not always be new races. Madrid has stated it would be interested in hosting a grand prix, and Formula One has reportedly been looking at a race in Nice, France. It is unlikely Spain and France would have two races, and in these cases Barcelona and Circuit Paul Ricard would likely get the boot, but there is a lot of competition for what is a limited number of schedule slots.
At the moment, the schedule is capped at 24 races per year according to the Concorde Agreement. That could change with approval from the teams, but there is a natural limit. There are only 52 races a year. There will need to be some type of offseason, plus financially and physically, it might not be possible to run more than 25 or 26 times a year. We all know teams are concerned about the strain of the schedule, especially as more races become flyaway events from the European center of the series.
The race limit is going to trip Formula One up as soon as next year.
We have 22 races. China is planned to return after a three-year absence due to the pandemic. Qatar is scheduled to return after a one-year sabbatical due to the World Cup. Then there is the Las Vegas round that will be coming to the schedule. That would get us to 25 races, but in all likelihood Imola will fall off after being an extended pandemic-filler.
However, there has been increased momentum in the South African Grand Prix returning to the schedule as soon as 2023 at Kyalami. That puts us again over the threshold. All we have are rumors and no concrete reports, but to comply with the 24-race limit, Spa-Francorchamps could be removed to make way for South Africa.
Formula One finds itself at maximum capacity and having to decide what races can remain and which ones cannot. It is putting a historical and well-supported venue in Spa-Francorchamps on the chopping block. For the last 20 years Formula One has been bucking its history. Spa-Francorchamps was off the calendar for a few years. The French Grand Prix wasn't on the schedule for over a decade. Imola is an example of a race left behind. Germany is no longer on the schedule. Silverstone and Monza have been under threat for what seems like the entire 21st century. Now Monaco is in the crosshairs.
In this new era for Formula One, the current leadership knows it is in a difficult situation. It knows the importance of these races, especially when they are filling the grandstands every day, not just race day. Silverstone is capped at 80,000 for Friday. Montreal was packed for every session earlier this month. Zandvoort returned to the calendar and filled every inch of the track perimeter with a human body. Spa-Francorchamps is the same way. These aren't only historic races, but successful races. People go to these venues. It is the lifeblood of the series.
But Formula One also likes money, and while Baku, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar might only get around 25,000 people for race day and not even get 70,000 for the entire weekend, they spend tens of millions of dollars, more than the historic venues.
Formula One needs fans, but it also needs money. How do we square this issue?
The series knows it would be foolish to do it on money alone. It is the easiest, and the most profitable way, but every race shouldn't become a bidding war, otherwise the fans will lose out. It is bad enough you couldn't get into the Miami race for less than $600. It cannot price out everyone and if every race becomes a bidding war, the fans will lose out because the costs will be dropped on them.
There is a core group of venues, but Formula One must make room for the new money. The problem is how do you decide what is a core venue and what do you do with all these extra races?
We are looking at 25 races fighting for 24 spots now, but other places will want in. It wasn't long ago Formula One was supposed to race in Vietnam. Malaysia once hosted a race. Argentina is out there. Turkey has been hanging around and has interest in returning to the calendar. It doesn't look like we will be racing in Russia anytime soon, but one day it will come up again. Add those four locations and now there are 30 parties for 24 spots. What happens if China wants a second race? What if a Finnish marvel arrives and stirs up enough interests for a grand prix there? What if India changes its tune and wants back into Formula One? What if a fourth American market emerges? Then Formula One is oversubscribed by ten.
The only answer is rotation, but we know there are plenty of venues no one wants to live without. Rotation isn't the best answer either. A track may get a Formula One race every other year in that circumstance, but that also means there is a year they will not have Formula One, not have 100,000 people spending their money and not have countless of hospitality suites and sponsorship signage to sell.
What is the answer?
At the current moment, Formula One needs to decide where it cannot live without. Part of that will be historic, but part of that will be strategic. Abu Dhabi might be new, but people like that as the finale. The same goes for Singapore. Being on every continent could be vital to the series' identity, and that would mean South Africa and Brazil are on while another obvious venue gets left out.
With the 24-race cap, a core that makes up 2/3rds of the calendar, 16 races, makes the most sense. It is easy to fill.
Europe has eight pivotal venues: Silverstone, Monza, Monaco, Spa-Francorchamps, Zandvoort, Red Bull Ring, Circuit Paul Ricard, Barcelona.
If we are giving every continent a race, Brazil is the only South American option at the moment and the same could be said for South Africa. That would also be true of Australia, and while there are numerous of Asian options, I think Suzuka carries the most water. That gets us to 12 races.
We need a North American venue and there are five options. If the United States is getting three races, at least two of those are making it. Since Austin and Miami have actually hosted races in their current forms, let's put them down. That leaves two spots left.
Who fills those spots? Canada and Mexico both get massive crowds, but is Formula One really going to race without China? Is Singapore really going to disappear? Would the finale not be at Abu Dhabi? At the moment, let's put in Mexico for the crowd (sorry Canada) and Abu Dhabi for the spectacle.
What does that mean for the remaining eight spots? That final third could be broken into four pods of three races that rotate. There are at least four new races in that case, but each race is on the calendar for two consecutive years.
For example, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar would be one pod. They bring money, but really don't have the crowd to justify a yearly event. In "Year A," Bahrain and Saudi Arabia could be on the schedule and Qatar would not. In "year B," Qatar would join the schedule and Bahrain would fall off. "Year C" would see Bahrain return and Saudi Arabia take a year off.
There could be one for the Americas between Canada, Las Vegas and hypothetically a Argentine round. In Asia, there could be a pod with China, Singapore and Vietnam or Malaysia or Thailand. The final pod could be a Eurasian pod for the races that didn't make the cut. It could include Hungary, Azerbaijan and theoretically Germany, Portugal, Turkey or Imola.
The calendar would be 24 races, but there would be 28 contracted grand prix.
But why stop there? It doesn't appear Formula One is going to stop anytime soon.
The core schedule could be decreased to 12 races and the number of pods could increase to six. The United States could be its own pod. There could be a South American pod. The calendar would still be 24 races, but now there are 30 grand prix under contract.
But who says there needs to be any core schedule? We could be 12 pods of three races, 36 grand prix and once every three years a race is off. That means in "Year A" Silverstone, Austin and China could be off. In "Year B," Monaco, Suzuka and Interlagos might not be on the schedule. "Year C" could see no races in Australia or Italy or Mexico. Every race would have to sacrifice something to be on the schedule. In a sense, it would be Formula One scheduling harmony, every race getting a little and giving a little for the greater good of the series.
Patience is necessary because we aren't sure how long this Formula One growth period will last. The bubble could pop tomorrow and the series could have only 23 interested venues with no country looking to ruffle some feathers. This three-dozen grand prix pipe dream isn't quite here, but if this trend continues for the better part of the 2020s we will have to accept a new way the Formula One schedule is decided. It will have to look like other sports, such as tennis and golf, where some venues don't host an event every year. The audience could be large enough to allow for such a possible outcome, and this could be the only reality that makes everyone happy.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Scott McLaughlin, Robert Wickens and Mark Wilkins but did you know...
Carlos Sainz, Jr. won the British Grand Prix, his first career grand prix victory.
Tyler Reddick won the NASCAR Cup race from Road America, his first career victory. Ty Gibbs won the Grand National Series race, his fourth victory of the season.
The #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac of Renger van der Zande and Sébastien Bourdais won the IMSA race from Mosport. The #54 CORE Autosport Ligier-Nissan of Colin Braun and Jon Bennett won in LMP3. The #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche of Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet won in GTD Pro. The #27 Roman De Angelis and Maxime Martin won in GTD.
Hunter McElrea won the Indy Lights race from Mid-Ohio. Louis Foster and Kiko Porto split the Indy Pro 2000 races. Myles Rowe won the first two U.S. F2000 races and Michael d'Orlando won the third.
Jack Doohan and American Logan Sargeant split the Formula Two races from Silverstone. Isack Hadjar and Arthur Leclerc split the Formula Three races.
The #28 IDEC Sport Oreca-Gibson of Paul Lafargue, Paul-Loup Chatin and Patrick Pilet won the 4 Hours of Monza. The #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier-Nissan of Charles Crews, Nico Pino and Guilherme Oliveira won in LMP3. The #77 Proton Competition of Gianmaria Bruni, Lorenzo Ferrari and Christian Ried won in GTE.
Thomas Preining and Felipe Fraga split the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters races from the Norisring.
Edoardo Mortara won the Marrakesh ePrix, his third victory of the season.
Santiago Urrutia and Rob Huff split the World Touring Car Cup Races from Vila Real.
The #32 Belgian Audi Club WRT Audi of Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts split the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup races from Misano.
Ryan Newman won the SRX race from Stafford Motor Speedway.
Coming Up This Weekend
Formula One's second sprint weekend in Austria.
Monza hosts the 6 Hours of Monza for the FIA World Endurance Championship and Peugeot will be there.
NASCAR makes its second stop at Atlanta.
Supercars are in Townsville.
SRX will be in Nashville, and Josef Newgarden and Matt Kenseth will make their debuts.
