During the weekend of the Italian Grand Prix a draft calendar for the 2014 Formula One World Championship was released/leaked to the media.
It included 21 races, none of which were the New Jersey race, who also hold a contract for 2014. So potentially Formula One could be looking to expand from 19 races this year, to 22 next season.
As expected India has been dropped from 2014, scheduled to return in 2015, whilst Austria, Russia and Mexico have all been added.
Great for Formula One fans, but perhaps not so for the teams or the current regulations.
A lot of teams in the Formula One paddock currently have problems regarding their own finances. Expanding the Formula One schedule to increase spending on travelling, a major expense when you fly the Formula One circus to all four corners of the globe, is not a prospect all the teams embrace.
Looking at the calendar an effort has been made to limit these problems, the Korean GP has been moved to fit in with races in the same region such as Malaysia and China. The Russian GP follows on from Japan and the Mexican Grand Prix is the week before the US Grand Prix just across the border in Texas.
The logistics of arranging a schedule to keep all of the tracks promoters and sponsors happy and 11 teams and staff happy is incredibly difficult and the draft calendar has not pleased everyone.
Korea for instance has moved from an end-of-season slot to an early season slot, meaning that there will only be six months between events. The very same reason behind why India opted to drop off of the 2014 schedule and return in 2015.
Could Korea do the same? If they were, and New Jersey failed to get everything place for 2014, then the calendar could be back down to its previously agreed 20 races.
The engine manufacturers would certainly prefer to see this happen. With the new 2014 F1 regulations coming into force each driver will be limited to just five new V6 turbo-engines during the course of the season.
The development of these power-units to last four Grand Prix race weekends each was already proving to be a struggle, without the potential increase of two further races to schedule.
The FIA’s World Motor Sport Council will decide on the draft calendar in Croatia at the end of this month. If they opt for an extended schedule, they could yet tweak the sporting regulation to allow drivers 6 engines across the season to compensate.
Entries for the 2014 F1 championship are not officially open until October 21, giving the FIA three weeks to rush through an amendment if required.
Potential 2014 Formula One World Championship schedule
March 16 – Australia (Melbourne)
March 23 – Malaysia (Sepang)
April 6 – China (Shanghai)
April 13 ? Korea* (Korea International Circuit)
April 27 ? Bahrain (Sakhir)
May 11 ? Spain (Barcelona)
May 25 ? Monaco (Monaco)
June 8 ? Canada (Montreal)
June 22 ? Austria (Red Bull Ring)
July 6 ? Britain (Silverstone)
July 20 ? Germany (Hockenheim)
July 27 ? Hungary (Budapest)
August 24 ? Belgium (Spa)
September 7 ? Italy (Monza)
September 21 ? Singapore (Marina Bay)
October 5 – Japan (Suzuka)
October 19 ? Russia* (Sochi)
October 26 ? Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina)
November 9 ? Mexico* (Mexico City)
November 16 ? USA (Circuit of the Americas)
November 30 ? Brazil (Interlagos)
* (subject to confirmation of track/contract)
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