What's going on with the F1 Calendar??

A lil rant

Calendar talk: The curious changes to the F1 calendar

It seems like only a few weeks ago that we F1 fans were celebrating the end of the sloggg that was the summer break ☀️. Yet despite being rewarded with two brilliant races in the Italian and Azerbaijan GP’s, as well as a couple Lando domination masterclasses, we have just endured another month long F1 hiatus ahead of the Austin Grand Prix. It feels … slightly bizarre. Was there new circuit that fell through? Did another race get shuffled to a separate date? Was it the calendar’s new environmentally conscious overhaul that left a gap simply too complex to try to rework??

With efforts to reduce F1’s environmental impact, this year’s calendar has undergone a couple changes compared to last year’s, with the Japanese and Azerbaijan being switched around as part of F1’s regionalisation efforts (see images below).

Although it may be easy to assume that fuel consumption is the main contributor to Formula 1’s environmental impact, in reality it is the relentless level of travel. Needing to transport all the equipment and people across the world for each race, travel contributes to 72.7% of the sport’s carbon footprint. Previously the race calendar was often criticised due to the amount of back and forth between countries, necessarily increasing the level of carbon emissions. Hence, this year, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (the good old FIA) has done some shuffling around. Although, to bring it back to this unprecedented Autumnal break, looking at the newly switched dates of the Japanese and Azerbaijan Grand Prix, it doesn’t look like environmental efforts were to blame…

Comparing the two calendars, it seems like the main reason for this hiatus would be the fact that Qatar (previously held on the 6th-8th of October) has been moved to later in the year. This was due to major concerns around the extreme temperatures of the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, with Logan Sargeant retiring due to fatigue and many other drivers fainting and vomiting after the race. Thankfully the FIA have now moved the Qatar GP to a later date, probably explaining the barren void we have just experienced, case closed 🕵️.

In any case, perhaps the more bizarre thing about this year’s calendar is the way that sprint races have been crammed to the start and end of the season. It seems like for the middle part of the year we just forgot sprint races existed and now has it been slapped back into F1 deprived clutches. Although the drivers and teams have gotten a well earned reset, we now face a triple header, sprinkled with two sprint races in Austin and São Paulo, plus a one more in Qatar straight after Las Vegas 😭🫶. RIP, everyone fasten your seatbelts 🙈.

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WAG of the week: Lily H

At her Aramco Team Series golf tournament in China this week Lily finished with an amazing result in the top 10!! TBH Alex is Lily’s WAG at this point.

lilymhe

A post shared by @lilymhe

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In other news: Hot Wheels x F1

In probably the greatest collab of all time, Hot Wheels and Formula 1 have united to create an F1 Hot Wheels car. Catch me running to MattelCreations.com 🫡.

hotwheelsofficial

A post shared by @hotwheelsofficial

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Lights out until next time

🏎️

Charlotte