Formula 1 – F1 2022 calendar revealed, new date for the French GP

La Formula 1 unveiled its 2022 calendar this Friday after approval from the FIA ​​World Motor Sport Council. As expected, next season's schedule contains a record 23 dates.

The French Grand Prix has a new slot since the event contested on the Circuit Paul Ricard du Castellet (Var) will be held on the weekend of July 22, 23, and 24 and will form a double with Hungary (29- July 31) just before the summer break.

The French team, which is entering its last year of contract, is in discussions to extend its lease beyond the current deadline.

The 2022 campaign will open with a double meeting in the Middle East. Like this year, Bahrain will host the opening round from March 18 to 20 and will be followed immediately by a return to Jeddah (March 25-27), just a few months after the 1st Saudi Arabian GP in history. (December 3-5, 2021).

F1 should then go to Australia (April 8-10), which has not hosted F1 since the cancellation of the 2020 edition a few hours before the first free practice. However, doubt still hangs over the continuation of the Melbourne event in view of the travel restrictions still in place in the antipodes.

China should then have appeared on the list but the drastic quarantine measures still in force in the Middle Kingdom, the initial focus of the Covid-19 pandemic, got the better of the event contested in Shanghai for the 3rd year of following. The Chinese round is therefore replaced by the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix organized in Imola (Italy).

The former theater of the San Marino GP, which served as a fallback solution for F1 in 2020 and 2021, is preparing to make a lasting return to the calendar.

F1 will then travel to Florida for the 1st edition of the Miami Grand Prix (May 6-8) scheduled within the Hard Rock Stadium sports and cultural complex located in the suburb of Miami Gardens, subject to approval of the circuit by the FIA ​​naturally.

Still in North America, Canada is due to return to the program on June 19. The Montreal event, absent since 2019, will once again be combined with Azerbaijan (June 10-12), forcing the teams into a Baku-Montreal sequence that is, to say the least, sporty!

The start of the school year will be marked by the sequence of two triplets. The first will be identical to that experienced this year with the successive holding of the GPs of Belgium, the Netherlands, then Italy.

The next one will include Russia, Singapore, and Japan, the last two rounds making their return to the program after two years of absence.

The 2022 season will conclude with the now traditional Abu Dhabi final scheduled for November 18 to 20, the earliest conclusion for an F1 campaign since the 2011 financial year. Objective: avoid a head-on clash with the Football World Cup in Qatar scheduled from November 21 to December 18.

To the 23 dates planned, it will be appropriate to add some 6 Sprint events, the F1 Commission having mentioned such a figure during its last meeting on Wednesday according to some indiscretions confided to AUTOhebdo.

“We are delighted to announce the 2022 calendar at a time when the sport is about to enter a new era with new regulations and single-seaters designed to follow each other more easily and offer more spectacle on the track,” commented Stefano Domenicali, CEO of the F1 Group. The 2021 season is exciting with intense on-track battles, excellent viewership, and a growing number of fans in the stands. We hope to welcome even more in 2022 to confirm a certain return to normal.

We are happy to see the interest in F1 around the world with many destinations wishing to host a Grand Prix (…) The page on the pandemic has not yet turned so we will continue to be vigilant and protect our staff as well as the countries we go to.”

“The F1 2022 calendar is impressive and the result of the remarkable work carried out by F1, Stefano Domenicali and his team, in close collaboration with the FIA,” welcomed Jean Todt, President of the federal body. Over the past two years, F1 has shown incredible resilience. It is confirmed with the continued growth of sport, despite the significant challenges posed by the pandemic. The 23 GPs planned for 2022 will provide the ideal setting for the future generation of single-seaters.”

• Provisional F1 2022 calendar

Bahrain (Sakhir) – March 20
Saudi Arabia (Jeddah) – March 27
Australia (Melbourne) – April 10
Emilia-Romagna (Imola) – April 24*
Miami (Miami International Autodrome) – May 8**
Spain (Barcelona) – May 22*
Monaco (Monte-Carlo) – May 29
Azerbaijan (Baku) – June 12
Canada (Montreal) – June 19
Great Britain (Silverstone) – July 3
Austria (Red Bull Ring) – July 10
France (Circuit Paul Ricard) – July 24
Hungary (Budapest) – July 31
Belgium (Belgium) – August 28
Netherlands (Zandvoort) – September 4
Italy (Monza) – September 11)
Russia (Sochi) – September 25
Singapore (Marina Bay- – October 2*
Japan (Suzuka) – October 9
United States (Austin) – October 23*
Mexico (Mexico City) – October 30
Brazil (Interlagos) – November 13
Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina) – November 20

*subject to contractual negotiations

** subject to circuit approval by the FIA