It's that time of year already when the Formula One social media accounts bless us with next season's race calendar. And, although, in places, it has a relatively similar lay out to 2023, there are some obvious differences. So, without further ado, let's dig deeper into 2024.
The 2024 season will begin in Bahrain at the Sakhir Circuit on the 29th February with the race taking place on the Saturday evening, rather than the Sunday. This will be repeated one week later in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Elsewhere, Japan moves to April and Azerbaijan to September in an attempt to "regionalise" the races and reduce the sport's carbon footprint. Also, in addition to the Summer break, an Autumn break has been added in September/October. Everything else is pretty much staying static with the season ending in Abu Dhabi on the 8th December. With 24 scheduled races, a number of these being double or triple headers, as long as no race is cancelled, we're in for the longest season of F1 ever.
So, what do I make of this newly released schedule? Keep reading on to find out.
Firstly, let's address the number of races. I, like every other F1 fan, craves race day. However, is 24 races one too many? For fans, maybe not, but for teams, drivers, F1 personnel; most definitely so. It makes for a very long year, logistically and personally. In previous years, 20 races was the average but, with the ever increasing global popularity of the sport, Formula One see's a gap in the market and if they can cater for more races, which in time creates more footfall, then of course they will. It is a business after all.
And, what about these Saturday races? What's going on with that? Technically, a Saturday race is nothing new with the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix taking place on Saturday 18th November. But still, a Saturday race, unless it's the Sprint, is unusual for Formula One and a quite leap away from tradition.
Initially, I was against the idea but then I looked into it a little bit more and learnt that the Middle Eastern Saturday races were to respect Ramadan which begins on Sunday 10th March. A fair enough reason to change precedings, I must add. It's important for F1 and other motorsport series to respect the cultures and traditions of the countries they visit. If fans don't like it, well, tough.
F1 has become quite notorious over the years for how they schedule races within a calendar season. For example, we quite regularly see a back-to-back race that usually involves Canada and a European race. With the increased use of social media, many fans have made the call for F1 to "regionalise" the races, especially with the sport so adamant about making a change environmentally. And, to be fair, F1 has heard and has made changes for 2024. The Japanese Grand Prix has moved from the Autumn to the Spring and vice-versa for Azerbaijan, slotting them into the relevant places where F1 will be at that time of year. For me, that makes a lot of sense. However, not all race venues were up for a change. Canada still sits in the middle of the European leg but can their reasons be justified as to why they won't move? I suppose so. Their reasoning? Weather and wildfire season. Maybe it's not so easy to change races around as we thought. Regardless, having Japan in Spring and Azerbaijan in Autumn will be weird but when the time comes, I doubt we'll even realise the difference.
As we've already established, this is F1's longest season to date and they've no doubt packed it full of action. However, what went unoticed by myself at first, is a cheeky, little Autumn break at the end of September/beginning of October, which is brilliant for everyone on the road with the F1 circus. Although if I was apart of this so-called circus, I think I'd rather power on through to the end of the season and instead have a longer Winter break. But, that's just me.
The last thing I want to mention is that Abu Dhabi is the season finale and has been for some time now. If I was to change anything in the calendar it would be this. Remember the 2012 season finale in Brazil? That was pure, epic racing. A real adrenaline rush to end the season on. With Abu Dhabi, we don't really get that excitement anymore. I guess it is what it is.
In all honesty, it's not a bad calendar. It's just really busy. Bin off some boring, street circuits and change the season finale and it's pretty much there. What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments.
Now, I better start planning for 2024 else it'll be here!
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