F1 calendar may see reshuffle next season

BARCELONA • Formula One has plans to group races by region next year to "improve its sustainability credentials by reducing freight movements and personnel travel", according to Autosport.

The proposal was reportedly revealed by F1 chief Stefano Domenicali in a meeting with team principals in Barcelona last weekend during the Spanish Grand Prix.

The sport's owners, Liberty Media, announced a plan in 2019 to make F1 carbon neutral by 2030, and rearranging races by region is said to be a vital consideration in order to achieve that aim.

A more efficient calendar will also reduce freight costs as both F1 and teams have been hit by "rising prices and increasingly scarce availability of freight capacity", reported Autosport.

Although there has yet to be an official confirmation, it is believed that F1 will go ahead with the move, but will also have to agree on changes like dates with race promoters before it can be finalised.

The Miami Grand Prix earlier this month was a standalone race in North America, while races in Baku and Montreal next month are back-to-back but are not at all close geographically.

According to Autosport, it is understood that Miami and Montreal could be paired together, while Baku could be shifted to join Shanghai and Suzuka.

It is not known if there will be changes to the Singapore Grand Prix or if other races in the region - the Australian Grand Prix, for instance - will be moved next to the races in the Republic and Japan in the usual third quarter.

Shanghai's return next year would largely depend on the Covid-19 situation in the city.

The Middle Eastern races could also be rearranged, with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia at the start of the year and Qatar and Abu Dhabi closing the season.

Relating to rising costs, Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer has warned F1's top teams to spend less on development if inflationary pressures put them at risk of busting the budget cap.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner suggested in Barcelona that a majority of the 10 teams would struggle to comply with financial restrictions imposed this season and an increase was needed.

But Szafnauer said Alpine's predicted spending remained inside the annual cap and saw no reason to go beyond the current US$140 million (S$192.5 million).

"We've set our budgets early, we kind of anticipated a little bit of the inflation. It didn't just creep up on us," said the American. "If we can do it, for sure others can do it too. I'm not for just increasing the cap.

"When freight costs go up by 2.5 million or 3.5 million but your development budget is 20 million, can you not make your development budget 17 million and still be under the cap? You can."

REUTERS