F1 News
The full Formula 1 calendar for the 2021 season
- GPblog.com
The start of the Formula 1 season 2021 is still some time away, but in the background people are not sitting still. Alpine F1 Team recently revealed the livery of their new car and Aston Martin F1 Team announced that they will change the pink of Racing Point for the characteristic green. Also the calendar has been published, although subject to possible changes, and the test days have been announced.
Full calender
The teams, FIA and Formula 1 as an organisation are currently preparing for the upcoming season. A season that is expected to be a little more 'normal' compared to last year, as all the coronavirus protocols are now in place. This will also mean that there will not be a huge delay, although nothing is out of the question.
A good example is of course the postponement of the Australian Grand Prix from the beginning to the end of the season. This is because of the very strict measures in Australia and no doubt we will see some shifts during the season. Nevertheless, the shaping of the season is more or less in its final stages, so it cannot start soon enough.
In view of the information shared and the preliminary forecast, here is the complete calendar for 2021, including the scheduled test days.
Test days
Normally, the test days take place in two parts at the Barcelona circuit, but this year they will be moved to Bahrain. Also, the test days have been shortened from six to three days to save costs.
These test days will take place on 12, 13 and 14 March. This is followed by a week and a half of rest and then the season actually starts. With this schedule the winter test is much closer to the start of the season, but as the cars are largely the same as last year a bigger gap between the test and the start is not necessarily necessary.
Grands Prix
In 2021 there will be 23 Grands Prix, with Formula 1 also visiting North and South America, as well as Asia. This makes the calendar more varied than that of 2020, which focused mainly on European circuits and the Middle East.
28 March - Bahrain (Sakhir)
18 April - Italy (Imola)
2 May - TBC
9 May - Spain (Barcelona)
23 May - Monaco (Monte-Carlo)
6 June - Azerbaijan (Baku)
13 June - Canada (Montreal)
27 June - France (Le Castellet)
4 July - Austria (Spielberg)
18 July - United Kingdom (Silverstone)
1 August - Hungary (Budapest)
29 August - Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps)
September 5 - Netherlands (Zandvoort)
September 12 - Italy (Monza)
26 September - Russia (Sochi)
3 October - Singapore (Singapore)
10 October - Japan (Suzuka)
24 October - United States (Austin)
31 October - Mexico (Mexico City)
7 November - Brazil (Sao Paulo)
21 November - Australia (Melbourne)
5 December - Saudi Arabia (Jeddah)
12 December - Abu Dhabi (Yas Island)
Alternative options
Should a race be cancelled due to restrictions imposed by the host country or other circumstances, Formula 1 has plenty of alternative options. These include the Nurburgring, Portimao, Mugello and more circuits. Another option would be to organise double Grands Prix again, as was done last year at Silverstone and in Austria.
However, there has been no real discussion of this so far and with enough fall-back options, Formula 1 at least has enough in hand to complete a full season. Of course, the uncertainty does not make the above calendar final either, as it can always change.
Finally, a so-called post-season test is expected to take place again. In recent years this took place in Abu Dhabi. Whether this will also be the case in 2021 is not yet clear, as the FIA and Formula 1 have not yet announced anything about this.