FOM must be realistic: '23 races is too much, this season gets 22 Grands Prix'

Starting with the Italian Grand Prix in two weeks Formula 1 will slowly make its exit from Europe. One last race in Russia and then all races in Europe are finished. A new challenge is coming up because there is a lot of travelling to do and the corona pandemic is still raging around. Therefore it was already known that we will not go to Australia and Japan.

The replacement for one of those races is said to be Qatar, on the MotoGP circuit. Stefano Domenicali explains that they are indeed in talks with the Middle East circuit. "Yes, that's right, there have been talks about Qatar. I can't confirm or deny anything at the moment because that wouldn't be nice from my side," said the F1 CEO according to The Independent.

23 races can be forgotten

"We have to find a solution for the cancellation of the Australian Grand Prix and we will reveal the calendar soon, hopefully before the end of this weekend". Furthermore, Domenicali also revealed that the Mexican and Brazilian Grand Prix will still go ahead, despite being on the UK's red list. It is expected that they will both be moved by a week so that it forms a triple-header together with Qatar. That will then be from November 7 to November 21.

"Realistically we now have the target at 22 races and that would be a great success as we have never driven that many in a year ever and we must not forget that we are still with COVID," Domenicali concluded.