F1 calendar could hit whopping 30 races per season including Las Vegas and Africa, says chief

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali says the championship could potentially conduct 30 races per season in the near future.

The 2022 campaign is set to be the biggest in F1’s 72-year history, with a total of 23 events scheduled from last weekend’s season opener in Bahrain to the finale at Abu Dhabi in November, including the inaugural Miami Grand Prix in May.

The calendar has steadily increased in size since F1 was purchased by American mass media corporation Liberty Media from former supremo Bernie Ecclestone in 2017, with nations including Saudi Arabia and Qatar hosting their first events and the Netherlands making a return after being absent since the 1980s.

F1’s Concorde Agreement means that 24 races is the championship’s maximum until 2025, but Domenicali believes the potential exists for a major increase beyond that point.

‘I think there is potential to go to 24,’ Domenicali told Sky Sports. ‘I would say there is potential to go to 30! In terms of the interest we see all around the world. It is up to us to try to find the right balance considering what are the venues which would like to be in F1, what are the historical values we need to see on the calendar.’

With the current 23-race calendar F1 will undertake two controversial triple-headers in 2022, with races on every weekend for three weeks. Any increase in the number of races on the schedule means that the mechanics, catering staff, medical personnel, and other workers who travel the world with F1 and its teams to make sure events are able to run will be required to spend further time away from their home and families.

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