No India & now no Russia for 2014

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Date: 2nd August 2013 at 9:55am
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Formula One teams fears of a 22 season championship next season look to have been allayed by default.

Due to the New Jersey race in the United States of America not being ready for 2013, this season Formula One dropped back down to 19 races for the season.

But for 2014, with the expected additions of New Jersey, Russia and Austria, it had looked like the Formula One calendar for next season could have been packed like never before.

This brought a few complaints from some of the Formula One teams, due to the costs and logistics of travelling around the world between March and November.

The fans of course would love to see the season extended, after all, the more races the more drama and excitement.

But it now looks unlikely that we will be watching over 20 races for next season.

With India dropping off the calendar for 2014 to secure an earlier season visit in 2015 and problems now arising in Russia, it looks more like a 20 race schedule for next season.

Work regarding the track in Sochi is ongoing, but due to a dispute with the Russian Automobile Federation the deadline has passed for the organisers to submit an application to the FIA to host a Formula One Grand Prix in 2014.

The Russian Automobile Federation refused to submit the application due to a financial dispute with the track promoters.

‘The application to the FIA for submitting the Russian Grand Prix to the 2014 Formula 1 calendar was not sent in proper time as JSC Omega (Promoter) didn’t fulfil the necessary conditions. a statement released by the Russian Automobile Federation read on Autosport Magazine.

‘That is: [it] didn’t sign a contract with the Russian Grand Prix organiser, didn’t sign a deal for an application submission and also didn’t pay a fee to the FIA for including an event on the FIA F1 calendar.

‘RAF informs that it is ready to include the Russian Grand Prix on to the FIA calendar under force-majeure conditions, permissible by the FIA, as soon as the promoter fulfils all the necessary formalities.’

The final paragraph of course could leave the door open for the Russian’s to sort out their issues, if of course the FIA are willing to accommodate them.