Chinese Grand Prix omitted from twenty-three race 2022 Formula 1 Calendar

The latest draft calendar for the 2022 Formula 1 calendar has been released following a meeting of FIA’s World Motor Sport Council on Friday, and it sees twenty-three races but no Chinese Grand Prix.

The season is set to begin at the Bahrain International Circuit on 20 March and end with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit on 20 November, earlier than the 2021 season is set to conclude as Formula 1 looks for a more settled calendar after two years of uncertainty due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix moves from December in 2021 to the second race of the season in March 2022, while the Australian Grand Prix returns to the calendar after two consecutive seasons of being cancelled due to COVID-19.

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix remains on the calendar on 24 April at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in place of the Chinese Grand Prix, which has found itself dropped from the calendar for 2022.  However, the race will be back ‘as soon as conditions allow’, according to a statement from Formula 1.

The race at Imola will be followed two weeks later by the first Miami Grand Prix in the United States (8 May), before races in Spain and Monaco in consecutive weekends conclude the month of May.

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix and returning Canadian Grand Prix will also take place on consecutive weekends, the Baku City Circuit holding its race on 12 June before the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve returns for the first time since 2019 on 19 June.

The British Grand Prix will be held on 3 July, a week before the Austrian Grand Prix, while the French and Hungarian Grand Prix will also be a double header on 24 and 31 July respectively, just before the summer break.

The first of two triple headers comes after the summer break, with the Belgian Grand Prix (28 August), Dutch Grand Prix (4 September) and Italian Grand Prix (11 September), whilst the second triple header begins two weeks later in Russia (25 September), with the race at the Sochi Autodrom being followed by a return to Singapore on 2 October and Japan on 9 October.

The United States Grand Prix and Mexico City Grand Prix become a double header again in 2022, with the Circuit of the Americas hosting on 23 October and the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez a week later.

The season concludes with a trip to Brazil on 13 November and to Abu Dhabi on 20 November.  The season is ending earlier next year to avoid any clashes with the Football World Cup that begins in Qatar in November 2022.

There is no place on the calendar for two events that have hosted races in both 2020 and 2021, with both the Portuguese and Turkish Grand Prix dropping off the schedule, while the Qatar Grand Prix, which debuts later this year, will re-join the calendar in 2023.

Provisional 2022 Formula 1 Calendar