Report: FIA’s 24-race-calendar plan might fall through as the Chinese Grand Prix hangs in the balance due to Covid restrictions
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Only a few weeks ago, the FIA made headlines with their decision regarding the Formula 1 Championship next season. This is because the calendar for F1 2023 currently boasts a whopping 24 races, making it the longest F1 schedule in the history of the sport. But now, it seems the FIA’s plan to host 24 races in a single season will not work out as they had hoped since the reports say that the Chinese Grand Prix is still in an uncertain position.
Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, the Chinese Grand Prix remained out of the F1 calendar and now, it has been almost 4 years since the fans witnessed their favorite racers battle it out for the race win in Shanghai. As soon as the F1 2023 calendar was released, many of the followers of F1 who hail from the Land of the Dragon, rejoiced to find the Chinese GP make its first-ever appearance on the roster since 2019.
Unfortunately for the Chinese fans, a recent news article penned by journalist Joe Saward says that there is quite some doubt about the occurrence of the Chinese Grand Prix next year. The country has had some very strict Covid-19 protocols ever since the start of the worldwide health crisis, and they are still in support of upholding these rules when the F1 paddocks visit them in 2023. This means that F1 would have to suffer a reduced audience count, and low ticket sales for the race, and that would be financially non-viable for the franchise.
Chinese Grand Prix remains uncertain as China proceeds with zero-COVID policy
As there have been a considerable amount of scientific literature suggesting that China was the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic, the country has undergone very strict ruling in order to recover from the health situation. Even now, while most parts of the world have reopened to business, traveling, and other regular activities, China is not yet fully back to “normality”. And on top of this, the Chinese Communist Party voted to maintain their zero-COVID policy for the time being.
Thus, Joe Saward said, “This (the Chinese Communist Party’s decision to keep the zero-COVID policy in force) means that it is almost inconceivable for there to be a race in Shanghai in 2023 because of restrictions on spectators and, more importantly, the quarantine requirements that the F1 circus would face, which are currently impossible to fulfil.”
If Joe Saward’s predictions are anything to go by, the Chinese government will not be allowing the influx of such a huge number of people from the other countries during the Formula 1 Grand Prix. Thus, chances seem slim for the occurence of a Chinese Grand Prix in 2023, and now, only two options remain for the FIA. They can either cancel the Chinese GP and keep the count of races at 23, or go ahead with another potential venue for next year. Only time will tell how things will turn out for the next season of Formula 1.
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Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)