With Monaco securing a new contract to ensure it stays on the calendar until at least 2025 and Las Vegas making its floodlit debut in November, Formula One will feature a record 24 races in the next season.
The last round of the season and third in the United States will take place at the Las Vegas Strip circuit on November 18, the governing FIA said on Tuesday.
Additionally, this event will be contested on a Saturday for the first time since 1985.
Stefano Domenicali, CEO of Formula One, said that the Las Vegas Grand Prix will elevate racing weekends. “The whole city is vibrating with anticipation for the race next year.”
Drivers will zoom past famous sights like the Bellagio Fountains and Caesars Palace on the 3.8 mile (6.12 km) course of the Grand Prix, which is projected to draw 170,000 spectators.
The future of Monaco, traditionally the most prestigious race, was questioned earlier this year during contract extension discussions.
Formula One announced that a new three-year agreement had been reached with the Automobile Club de Monaco, and that it was probably going to be extended.
The principality continues to take place on May 28 as the eighth event and middle leg of a tripleheader with Spain’s Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona and Italy’s Imola.
A record 23 races were scheduled for this season, but only 22 were actually held when Russia’s event in Sochi was cancelled due to the invasion of Ukraine.
The season will begin in Bahrain on March 5 and end in Abu Dhabi on November 26.
The schedule also stays clear of the 24-hour Le Mans sportscar event, which will commemorate its 100th anniversary on June 10 and 11 of next year.
The Wimbledon men’s and women’s tennis finals take place on July 15–16, while the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on July 9 falls on that weekend.
The customary August break is kept, with Belgium finishing the month of July as the final race before it and Hungary coming after it rather than the other way around.
Given that the organisers only agreed to an extension of one year last month, Belgium’s longer-term destiny is still up in the air.
According to Mohammed Ben Sulayem, president of the FIA, “the inclusion of 24 events on the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship calendar is additional indication of the expansion and attraction of the sport on a worldwide scale.”
The Emirati continued, “The preservation of established events and the inclusion of new locations highlights the FIA’s strong management of the sport.
With a race on October 8, Qatar, which was missing this year since it was the host nation for the World Cup of soccer, comes back as the fourth Middle Eastern round.
In contrast to France, whose race occurred at Le Castellet’s Circuit Paul Ricard in Marseille, China, which last held a race in 2019, returns despite ongoing uncertainty on Covid-19 restrictions.
Additionally, Formula One has been in talks with the Kyalami track in South Africa, but no agreement has been reached.
On April 30 and May 7, respectively, Azerbaijan and Miami are still scheduled as back-to-back events.
There was no word on which events will follow the sprint format; the sport is aiming for six after only three this year.
It’s critical that we strike the correct balance for the whole sport since Formula One is seeing record demand to host races, according to Domenicali.