China GP will be canceled due to Covid policy
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China’s return to the Formula 1 calendar will be canceled next year as a result of the country’s Covid policies, BBC Sport has learned.
Formula 1 has not visited China since 2019, but was due to return for a fourth race in 2023 on April 16.
China’s zero Covid policy has led F1 to conclude that the race cannot go ahead.
The key point is that F1 staff would not have exemptions from quarantine requirements in the event of a Covid-19 infection.
F1 believes it cannot ask teams to travel to the country for the Shanghai race with the risk that staff could be detained for days if they catch coronavirus.
from China latest rules require anyone with Covid-19 to spend five days in an isolation center plus three days of home isolation.
F1 chairman and chief executive Stefano Domenicali has yet to officially cancel the race, but the decision is seen as inevitable.
F1 declined to comment on the situation.
The sport is not expected to seek to replace China with another race, so the schedule will be reduced to 23 races, still an all-time record, but one fewer event than F1 had originally planned.
The cancellation of China will leave a four-week gap in the 2023 calendar between the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on April 2 and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku on April 30.
Domenicali is said to be holding talks with Baku authorities in an attempt to persuade them to move the race forward by a week to April 23, but is meeting resistance.
If Baku cannot be persuaded to move, the gap is expected to remain unfilled.
F1 is also in talks to extend Azerbaijan’s racing contract, which expires next year.
F1 was expected to drop the race to make way for other new entrants, such as the planned race at Kyalami in South Africa.
But Azerbaijan, which pays one of the biggest fees of any race, is expected to sign a new 10-year deal.
Which races will be sprints?
F1 has been fine-tuning its analysis of which tracks are best suited to host sprint events – which include a shorter race on Saturdays to set the main grand prix grid – and is close to settling on the six races that will host them during 2023.
F1 is scheduled to be: Azerbaijan, Austria June 30-July 2, Belgium July 28-30, Qatar October 6-8, US GP Austin October 20-22 and Brazil from November 3 to 5.
F1 had wanted to host a sprint event in Saudi Arabia, the second race of the season from March 17-19, but Saudi authorities have rejected the fee being demanded.
However, the idea of a sprint at the Jeddah event has not been ruled out. If talks resume and an agreement is reached, it is likely to replace Qatar.
The number of sprint events held will double next year because F1 is keen on them as they boost revenue and TV audiences.
These events include a short one-third distance race on Saturday afternoon in lieu of qualifying. The sprint result decides the grid for the main Grand Prix, with qualifying moved to Friday to set the sprint grid.
