On Tuesday, Formula One announced that it would not be replacing the cancelled Chinese Grand Prix, resulting in a record-breaking season of 23 races in 2023.
China’s Shanghai race has been cancelled for four consecutive years, and COVID-19 cases in China have continued to rise despite the country’s earlier stringent pandemic-related restrictions. Formula One verified in a brief statement that its 2023 season will include 23 races, and the dates for each of them will remain unchanged.
During the last three racing seasons, countries such as Turkey and Portugal have stepped up as replacement hosts to accommodate pandemic-related disruptions to the racing schedule.
Despite having a seemingly empty slot in the racing calendar on April 16, which was formerly occupied by the Chinese Grand Prix, Formula One did not add a replacement race to avoid putting teams in a crunch to adjust travel and transportation plans soon enough.
Consequently, there will be a four-week pause between the Australian GP scheduled for April 2 and the Azerbaijan GP slated for April 30. By not including a substitute race for the cancelled Shanghai race, next year’s racing season will have 23 races, one more than the previous season. While the French Grand Prix was removed, the races in Qatar and Las Vegas were added this year.