OCTOBER 26, 2005

A look at the F1 calendar

The Formula 1 calendar has finally be published and although there are some changes, there are some bits of good news as well, notably that the season will not drag on into November as had been discussed, but will end in Brazil on October 22. The bad news is that October is going to be a killer month for jetlag with Japan and China followed by Brazil.

The rest of the calendar is much as expected with the only surprises being Europe being pushed to May 7, before the Spanish GP. This should guarantee a cold time at the Nurburgring. This means that the British Grand Prix has been moved to June 11 to avoid the World Cup and Canada and the United States have been twinned in a logical fashion. As we suggested some time ago France has been given the Bastille Day weekend, which will keep the French happy having been pushed off their original date by the Americans. Thus the United States GP will be on the July 4 holiday weekend and France's race will be on a national holiday as well. This should help attendance figures in both cases. Holding Spa in mid-September will be tempting fate from the weather but that is not unusual.

The published calendar is as follows: Mar 12: Bahrain Grand Prix (Bahrain); Mar 19: Malaysian Grand Prix (Sepang); Apr 2: Australian Grand Prix (Melbourne); Apr 23: San Marino Grand Prix (Imola); May 7: European Grand Prix (Nurburgring, Germany); May 14: Spanish Grand Prix (Barcelona); May 28: Monaco Grand Prix (Monte Carlo); Jun 11: British Grand Prix (Silverstone); Jun 25: Canadian Grand Prix (Montreal); Jul 2: United States Grand Prix (Indianapolis); Jul 16: French Grand Prix (Mangy-Cours); Jul 30: German Grand Prix (Hockenheim); Aug 6: Hungarian Grand Prix (Hungaroring); Aug 27: Turkish Grand Prix (Istanbul); Sep 10: Italian Grand Prix (Monza); Sep 17: Belgian Grand Prix (Spa-Francorchamps); Oct 1: Japanese Grand Prix (Suzuka); Oct 8: Chinese Grand Prix (Shanghai); Oct 22: Brazilian Grand Prix (Interlagos).