Sports|The Complicated Puzzle of the Formula 1 Schedule

Formula 1 holds 24 Grands Prix annually in 21 countries. Compiling a schedule that is manageable logistically and also profitable is almost as complicated as moving an army from front to front.

“Other leagues play in one country, or are there every four years,” said Stefano Domenicali, Formula 1 president and chief executive, in an interview last month. “We are there around the world every year in quite an intense way. We are the only sport that when you move, it’s not with two coaches and 20 players, we have thousands of people and tons and tons of material. It’s not trivial.”

Formula 1 strives to regionalize its calendar, focused on a European midseason, with Grands Prix in Australia, the Americas and Asia bookending it.

“Twenty-four races, piecing them all together, is probably one of the hardest things we do,” said Liam Parker, chief communications and corporate relations officer of Formula 1, in an interview. “You’ve climate, you have to do certain things at certain times of the year — certain places are raining like hell, frozen, or so hot you’d be well beyond driver heat hazards.

“You have national holidays — Ramadan in the Middle East is a good example — and then among that there’s a drive to be more sustainable. And cannibalization,” he said, referring to one Grand Prix taking an audience from another. “In an ideal world you’d say, ‘Why don’t you do Austin, Las Vegas, Miami all next to each other, with Canada just before, then Mexico and Brazil.’ But you’d probably see quite a significant amount of cannibalization, plus does it work to shut Las Vegas down at that time? Are the Miami Dolphins playing football at that time?”

The schedule is discussed with race promoters, particularly around date changes. Canada’s Grand Prix moved from June to May this year, while Japan’s round was shifted from fall to spring in 2024. The sport must talk to the promoters “a year or two” in advance to alleviate any concerns that a date change may impact sales.