Formula 1 announces provisional calendar for 2021 season

The 23-race calendar is the longest in F1 history.

F1 announced the provisional race calendar for the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship on Tuesday. It will be submitted to the World Motor Sport Council for approval.

The 2021 season follows an unprecedented year for F1 in which the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a revised 2020 calendar of 17 races and the first international sport to resume its season. The plans for the next year have involved extensive dialogue with all promoters and their local and national authorities at a time of ongoing fluidity related to the global pandemic.

The Chairman and CEO of Formula 1 Chase Carey said," We are pleased to announce the 2021 F1 provisional calendar after extensive conversations with our promoters, the teams and the FIA. We are planning for 2021 events with fans that provide an experience close to normal and expect our agreements to be honoured. We have proven that we can safely travel and operate our races and our promoters increasingly recognise the need to move forward and manage the virus."

"In fact, many hosts actually want to use our event as a platform to show the world they are moving forward. We are delighted to see Saudi Arabia become part of the schedule and are equally excited to return to the venues we hoped to race in 2020. We want to thank all our promoters and partners for their ongoing enthusiasm and collaboration and look forward to giving our fans an exciting season on the track."

The 2021 season calendar consists of a total of 23 races, which is the longest in F1 history. It will begin on 21st March with the Australian GP at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne. The 2020 calendar originally had 22 races.

Formula 1 and the FIA put in place robust health and safety measures to allow the revised 2020 season to restart and run effectively. The hosts for the 2021 season are also confident that the proper plans and procedures will allow the sports to return to a level of normality next year.