All F1 teams want F1 to go back to a single 20-race season
Monaco Grand Prix will be cut to three days and the Italian and European rounds reduced to three rounds in 2022, says F1’s boss Chase Carey.
Carey told French TV station LCI that all three races at Monza, Spa-Francorchamps and the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi would no longer be held on successive days.
The French Grand Prix and Italian Grand Prix were previously conducted on successive weekends in race year.
Carey was speaking on the eve of F1’s owners Liberty Media’s first winter meeting with teams.
He said it was a decision that was taken unanimously by F1’s bosses but would not impact the IndyCar Championship because the IndyCar’s three-race format was only used for the final five weeks of the season.
Monza was not affected by the decision because it is already a three-day race at the end of the season.
Carey said it was “a strategic move” towards a more commercially viable schedule of 20 races.
“It gives us an opportunity to celebrate the 20th edition of the Monaco Grand Prix in a spectacular way and make it more commercial, make it more productive for the teams, make it more productive for the sponsors, making it more realistic for the media organisations and – crucially – for the drivers,” he said.
“It gives the right environment to get a lot of discussion to help us realize that way forward to ensure that we’re operating in the right environment for next year and the years to come.”
A return to a single 20-race season would be a return to the current format, adopted from 2011, but one that is open to a number of different designs depending on the specific drivers and teams.
It is widely considered the most lucrative schedule for all teams, with the three-day Monaco Grand Prix the jewel in the crown, but there has been opposition for some time among some of the most valuable-looking drivers, particularly those at Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull, who would be significantly more heavily promoted.