2018 Calendars: Formula 1

2018 FIA Formula 1 World Championship Schedule

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*As at 29 December 2017*

2018 Formula 1 World Championship

Date	Event	Circuit	Location	Country
25 Mar	Australian Grand Prix	Albert Park	Melbourne	Australia
8 Apr	Bahrain Grand Prix	Bahrain International Circuit	Sakhir	Bahrain
15 Apr	Chinese Grand Prix	Shanghai International Circuit	Shanghai	China
29 Apr	Azerbaijan Grand Prix	Baku	Baku	Azerbaijan
13 May	Gran Premio de Espana	Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya	Barcelona	Spain
27 May	Grand Prix de Monaco	Monaco	Monaco	Monaco
10 Jun	Grand Prix du Canada	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve	Montreal	Canada
24 Jun	Grand Prix de France	Circuit Paul Ricard	Le Castellet	France
1 Jul	Grosser Preis von Osterreich	Red Bull Ring	Spielberg	Austria
8 Jul	British Grand Prix	Silverstone	Towcester	United Kingdom
22 Jul	Grosser Preis von Deutschland	Hockenheimring	Hockenheim	Germany
29 Jul	Magyar Nagydij	Hungaroring	Budapest	Hungary
26 Aug	Belgian Grand Prix	Spa-Francorchamps	Francorchamps	Belgium
2 Sep	Gran Premio d’Italia	Autodromo Monza	Milan	Italy
16 Sep	Singapore Grand Prix	Singapore	Singapore	Singapore
30 Sep	Russian Grand Prix	Sochi Autodrom	Sochi	Russia
7 Oct	Japanese Grand Prix	Suzuka Circuit	Suzuka	Japan
21 Oct	United States Grand Prix	Circuit of the Americas	Austin	United States
28 Oct	Gran Premio de Mexico	Autodromo Hermanos Rodrigues	Mexico City	Mexico
11 Nov	Grande Premio do Brasil	Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace	Sao Paulo	Brazil
25 Nov	Abu Dhabi Grand Prix	Yas Marina Circuit	Abu Dhabi	United Arab Emirates

What’s Changed?

Deleted events:

• Sepang, Malaysia.

Returning or new events:

• Le Castellet (Paul Ricard), France.
• Hockenheim, Germany.

The French Grand Prix makes a welcome return, this time to Paul Ricard Circuit, Le Castellet, on the South coast. It’ll be the week after Le Mans in the slot held by Baku last year and forms the middle of a trio of consecutive GPs.

The German GP is back too, after a year out, at Hockenheim in the usual July slot.

We have sadly lost the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang.

Two in and one out leaves the total number up to a record-equalling 21 GPs, matching the high mark set in 2016.

There is also a small amount of reshuffling:

Bahrain and China swap places, Bahrain moving up to Round 2 and Shanghai Round 3.

Azerbaijan moves to Round 4, taking up the slot formerly occupied to Russia, thus making way for France to take the summer slot. The Russian GP moves to Malaysia’s 2017 place at the end of September.

We also see the first ever back-to-back-to-back run of 3 consecutive weeks in Formula 1, from France to Austria to Great Britain. Then a week off before going to Germany and Hungary a week apart.

Comment

The return of the historic “French Grand Prix” name is a big plus, it should never have been lost, neither should the German GP. I’m very pleased to have both back.

A French GP in the south of France just as the French themselves move South for holidays is an interesting idea. The question is, how many of them will attend the race when they could be enjoying the Mediterranean resorts? The other question, what sort of facilities will greet them? The other thing to note is the French GP will be held just one week after the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

I’m saddened though to lose Sepang. It is a modern classic and proof that Tilke’s group do know what they are doing when given the chance! The fact is the MotoGP round is a better fit for the local population’s interests, and also for the track as a business case.

Logistically the 3-in-a-row appears to make little sense – surely you would put Britain and France together, then a week off, then stop at Germany and Austria on your way to Hungary? Perhaps this is a future aim.

21 rounds is a heck of a lot and there will be some tired people come the ‘summer break’ after Hungary, following five races in six weekends. I’ve long thought we should have 16 or 17 points-paying Championship races, perhaps with 4 or 5 additional non-Championship races paying a big purse? ‘More’ is not always better.

Clashes

The reality of European motorsport is that Formula 1 sets its calendar and everyone else has to work around it. This isn’t so much the case elsewhere in the world. It isn’t a great situation, there should be some effort to work as one, at least within the FIA family of championships if nothing else, but that’s not the way things are.

And in an era of 21 Grands Prix, clashes will always happen. And the motorsport media will always focus on F1. For these reasons I can’t go into everything that clashes with F1. It is better to look at it the other way, when I look at other championships I’ll note the F1 GPs that clash with them.

The good thing is they have managed to avoid the 24 Hours of Le Mans for another year.