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Formula 1 will not replace the cancelled Chinese Grand Prix and has confirmed the 2023 season will feature 23 grands prix with a large gap between races in April.
Shanghai originally appeared on the provisional 24-race schedule for 2023 but was never considered likely to happen because of China’s situation regarding COVID-19.
Restrictions in China and the potential consequences for those returning from the country meant F1 considered it impossible to hold the race without major compromises, and even as restrictions eased at the start of 2023 a late attempt from organisers to get it reinstated failed.
F1 held discussions with potential replacement venues to take the vacant April 16 slot, as it was keen to retain a 24th race if possible.
But despite Portugal looking like a strong favourite to get back on the calendar after Portimao’s 2020 and ’21 appearances, F1’s position was always that it was open to not replacing China at all.
F1 has now confirmed that no race will take China’s slot and the calendar will feature 23 grands prix, which is still a record.
Furthermore, no other races will move dates. That is significant because it means a large gap in the schedule early in the season.
This was the main drawback to not replacing China as an attempt to get the Azerbaijan Grand Prix to move forward one week from April 30 to April 23 was rebuffed by Baku organisers.
It means four weeks, or three empty weekends, between the third round of the season in Australia (April 2) and the next race in Azerbaijan (April 30).
The start of the season therefore gets even more drawn out, as Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are not back-to-back this year and Australia is a standalone event as well, before the schedule condenses significantly.
There will be only four races in the first two months of the season, then nine races in the next three months leading to the summer break.
The schedule is still compact in the second half of the year too, as that features three double-headers and a triple-header comprising the United States, Mexican and Brazilian GPs.
REVISED 2023 F1 CALENDAR
February 23-25: Bahrain pre-season test
March 5: Bahrain
March 19: Saudi Arabia
April 2: Australia
April 30: Azerbaijan
May 7: Miami
May 21: Emilia Romagna (Imola)
May 28: Monaco
June 4: Spain
June 18: Canada
July 2: Austria
July 9: Britain
July 23: Hungary
July 30: Belgium
August 27: Netherlands
September 3: Italy
September 17: Singapore
September 24: Japan
October 8: Qatar
October 22: United States
October 29: Mexico
November 5: Brazil
November 18: Las Vegas
November 26: Abu Dhabi
