Formula One has confirmed that 2023 World Championship will run over a record 23 events, with racing to resume on the weekend of March 5.
It’ll be the second season of the new-specification cars which proved a significant challenge for a number of teams — not least of which was defending 2021 manufacturer Mercedes — to get to grips with. Red Bull had no such issues though, taking a first constructor title since 2013 and winning 17 of the 22 grands prix. That largely came courtesy of world champion Max Verstappen, who took a record 15 wins.
The schedule for the 2023 season will look familiar for the most part for fans who followed the then-record 2021 and 2022 seasons. Although there’s one event missing from the calendar, with the French Grand Prix set to appear in rotation in future seasons, one other race returns and there’s a new circuit on the calendar:
- Round 1 – March 3-5 – Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain
- Round 2 – March 17-19 – Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Saudi Arabia
- Round 3 – March 30-April 2 – Albert Park Circuit, Australia
- Round 4 – April 28-30 – Baku City Circuit, Azerbaijan*
- Round 5 – May 5-7 – Miami International Autodrome, USA
- Round 6 – May 19-21 – Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Italy
- Round 7 – May 25-28 – Circuit de Monaco, Monaco
- Round 8 – June 2-4 – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain
- Round 9 – June 16-18 – Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Canada
- Round 10 – June 30-July 2 – Red Bull Ring, Austria*
- Round 11 – July 7-9 – Silverstone Circuit, UK
- Round 12 – July 21-23 – Hungaroring, Hungary
- Round 13 – July 28-30 – Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium*
- Round 14 – August 25-27 – Circuit Zandvoort, Netherlands
- Round 15 – September 1-3 – Monza Circuit, Italy
- Round 16 – September 15-17 – Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore
- Round 17 – September 22-24 – Suzuka Circuit, Japan
- Round 18 – October 6-8 – Losail International Circuit, Qatar*
- Round 19 – October 20-22 – Circuit of the Americas, USA*
- Round 20 – October 27-29 – Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico
- Round 21 – November 3-5 – Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, Brazil*
- Round 22 – November 16-18 – Las Vegas Street Circuit, USA
- Round 23 – November 24-26 – Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi
That new circuit is, of course, the Las Vegas Street Circuit in Nevada. The track, a temporary street circuit, takes in some of the famous Las Vegas Strip as the back straight runs past Caesar’s Palace — which hosted two grands prix in its car park in the 1980s — although the start line is to the east in Paradise.
Returning to the calendar is the Qatar Grand Prix, at the Losail International Circuit, following its absence in 2022. A 24th grand prix was planned, with Shanghai International Circuit staging a race between Australia and Azerbaijan, but this can no longer take place.
Six rounds of the championship will host “Sprint” races this season too. This short, 100km (62mi) race takes place on the Saturday, ahead of final practice, and gives championship points to the first to eight place finishers — 8 for the winner, down to 1 for eighth. These races will take place in Azerbaijan, Austria, Belgium, Qatar, COTA, and Brazil.
Pre-season testing will get underway on February 23, with a three-day test at Bahrain International Circuit. The teams will be unveiling their cars ahead of this event, with defending champion Red Bull set to be the first on February 3.
You can keep across all of the F1 action in GTPlanet’s dedicated Motorsport forum, which hosts busy and active threads for each race.
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