2021 Race Calendar Update

With the rising number of COVID cases worldwide, the F1 management team have made a few changes to the 2021 calendar. 

The good news is that the Australian Grand Prix still remains and will now take place later in the year, and the total number of races remains at 23.

The 3rd race of the year is still to be confirmed

I personally think that Portugal should be back on this year's calendar.

It was such a great race last year, and the track is technically very challenging for the drivers.

This is the newly updated calendar

28 March – Bahrain (Sakhir)

18 April - Italy (Imola*)

2 May - TBC  (BRING BACK PORTUGAL!!)

9 May – Spain (Barcelona)

23 May – Monaco (Monaco)

6 June – Azerbaijan (Baku)

13 June – Canada (Montreal)

27 June – France (Le Castellet)

4 July – Austria (Spielberg)

18 July – United Kingdom (Silverstone)

1 August – Hungary (Budapest)

29 August – Belgium (Spa)

5 September – Netherlands (Zandvoort)

12 September – Italy (Monza)

26 September – Russia (Sochi)

3 October – Singapore (Singapore)

10 October – Japan (Suzuka)

24 October – USA (Austin)

31 October – Mexico (Mexico City)

7 November – Brazil (Sao Paulo)

21 November - Australia (Melbourne*)

5 December - Saudi Arabia (Jeddah**)

12 December - Abu Dhabi (Yas Island)

*Revisions to the calendar are subject to World Motor Sport Council approval 

**Subject to circuit homologation

And that's a wrap for the 2020 Season.....

Well, what can I say? 

The 2020 season finished almost as fast as it started, with Lewis Hamilton making History and breaking records, Sergio Perez taking his first-ever F1 win, George Russel surprising everyone during practice and qualifying whilst substituting for Hamilton during the Sakir Grand Prix weekend and Pierre Gasly taking a surprise win at Monza.

Nevertheless, the 2020 F1 season will be remembered as the most frantic ever season in F1 History, due to the challenges COVID-19 produced, with regards to social distancing, constant testing of all F1 drivers and team personal and limited or no spectators attending this year's races.

But, what made the 2020 season so interesting for me, is the diversity of racetracks that were used this year. Some regular tracks were not able to host a race this year due to local COVID restrictions, and the FIA and F1 Management did a great job to secure very last-minute deals, to host at least one race at tracks that were available and were FIA approved.

I was looking forward to the Vietnam Grand Prix, which could have been a spectacular race, but due to COVID was scrapped for 2020 and for 2021.

In particular, the three tracks that stands out for me were the following:

#3 - Formula 1 Heineken Grande Prémio De Portugal

Autódromo Internacional do Algarve (Portimao)

This is a circuit very similar to the likes of the Circuit of the America's in the USA. 

Portimao is a modern venue with elevation change baked into its layout. The Ricardo Pena-designed 4.6-km lap sends drivers swooping up the hill and down dale, before culminating in a plunge down to the final right-hander at Galp leading back onto the pit straight.

This is a very challenging circuit and requires every bit of concentration with the elevation changes as well as blind corners to contend with. The drivers felt it was a very technical circuit and was at times very challenging.

#2 - Formula 1 Emirates Gran Premio Dell'emilia Romagna

Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari (Imola)

This is a circuit that conjures up a lot of good and bad memories for me personally, as this is where Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna both lost their lives, during that fateful weekend in May of 1994.

Before the circuit was re-designed, Tamburello was a straight with no chicanes and was notoriously fast and dangerous, with the cars doing in excess of 200mph before slamming on the brakes for the Tosa corner.

Pierre Gasly tested his AlphaTauri AT01 at the track in the build-up to the 2020 season, and called the experience one of the best he’d ever had in a Formula 1 car, while his teammate Daniil Kvyat remarked that “an F1 car through corners like Acque Minerali – the entrance is so fast, it’s so cool. It really gives you a lot of adrenaline.” 

The anti-clockwise circuit is certainly fast, with an old-school feel as the drivers put it on the line in iconic corners like the aforementioned Acque Minerali and Piratella.

#1 - Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio Della Toscana Ferrari 1000

Mugello

Mugello for me was the highlight of the year, as this circuit truly is a classic, with very fast corners and a long pit straight.

Set in a valley, the natural topography makes a lap of the 5.2-km track – which has hosted many an F1 test in its time, including Kimi Raikkonen’s famous first outing with Sauber – a real rollercoaster ride, with the stomach-churning run through Casanova, Savelli and into Arrabbiata 1 and 2 a particular highlight.

What do you think? 

Which of the three circuits was your favourite?

Please leave a comment below and tell me about your favourite memories of the 2020 F1 season

2021

I'll be back early next year with news on new car launches and testing, which will start from the 2nd - 4th of March. Testing has been limited to only three days in 2021, with the season kicking off in Australia two weeks after.

Lewis Hamilton equals Schumacher's seven world drivers championships

 A stunning drive from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in the Turkish Grand Prix gave him his 10th victory of the season – and, more crucially, saw him claim the seventh drivers’ title of his career, to equal the record of Michael Schumacher, as Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel completed the podium after a thrilling race in Istanbul.

Hamilton had started the race in sixth, risen to third midway through the first lap, and then dropped back to sixth by the end of Lap 1 after an error at Turn 9. But a decision to change his intermediate tires just once saw Hamilton drive a masterful race to claim victory by over 25 seconds from Perez.

The win alone was enough to claim championship #7, but it was even more assured after a disastrous race for Valtteri Bottas - the only man who could have stopped Hamilton winning the title - who spun six times en route to a P14 finish.

Having surpassed Schumacher for the most wins in history earlier this year, and now equaled the great German’s record championship haul, the debate around the greatest of all time will no doubt be debated for years to come. But there was no doubt about what re-writing the record books once more meant to Hamilton.

“I know often I say ‘it’s beyond my wildest dreams’ but I think my whole life, secretly, I probably have dreamt as high as this, you know, but it felt so far-fetched. I remember watching Michael winning those championships and you know we all here, all us drivers, are always doing the best job we can and just to get one, two or even three [titles], you know it’s so hard to get.

“Seven is kind of unimaginable. When you work with such a great group of people and you really communicate and trust one another and listen to one another, there was just no end to what we could do together, I and this team and I’m so proud of the work that was done and them trusting me today, you know. That comes with experience.

“I think it’s so important for kids out there to hopefully see this and know don’t listen to anyway who says you can’t achieve something,” he added. “Dream the impossible and speak it into existence. You have to work for it, you have to chase it and never give up, and never doubt yourself.”

The only question now is how far Hamilton will raise the bar before he eventually hangs up his helmet.