That leaves the Abu Dhabi, Emilia Romagna, Monaco, Portuguese, Spanish, Styrian, Turkish and United States Grands Prix without confirmed deals for 2022. While we can probably expect the Styrian Grand Prix not to return, should the calendar not need filling with double rounds, the Emilia Romagna and Portuguese Grands Prix may hope to remain, although without extra budget appearing it would be difficult to expect them to be back. The same situation is true for the Turkish Grand Prix, which stepped in to replace Australia in 2021.
Of the remaining races Monaco, Abu Dhabi and Spain are almost certain to return and there seems little appetite to leave the US with a single race, so the Circuit of the Americas will probably hold a race again.
Although no indication has been given of the structure of the 2022 calendar, it is now expected that Australia will not host the opening round after a two-year absence. Melbourne’s race had hosted the first race of each F1 season since 1996 except one, but has been missing from F1’s season for two years. Organisers admitted recently that they did not expect to open the season in 2022.
We expect F1 2022 to begin in Bahrain before the Chinese Grand Prix, and then head for the usual European F1 season, beginning in Spain and Monaco in Spring. Canada will most like provide a break from the European rounds either before or after the British and French grands prix while the Hungarian race will most likely precede the mandated summer break.
The second portion of the 2022 F1 calendar will most likely start with the Belgian and Italian GPs before the Formula 1 circus heads away from Europe to the Americas. While no actual dates have been given for the US and Miami grands prix (should COTA return) it’s expected that they will sit at least a few months away from each other on the calendar.
With F1’s head Stefano Domenicali confirming that the calendar is not going to expand beyond the 23-race calendar that was originally scheduled for 2021, there may be some nervous moments for the races currently without deals, before the first provisional calendar comes out in a few weeks’ time. As soon as that F1 calendar is announced, usually around F1’s summer break, we’ll bring you the full rundown right here on GRR.