Notice: no Germany.
Germany wasn't going to exist in 2019 but Merc came to the rescue at the last minute. There was no plans for 2020 or 2021, Liberty now wants $50mill to host a GP and ticket sales in Germany aren't that great. For 2019 their weekend attendance was only 153k, Austria had 200k.
There is that. However I do like the new artificial cities built by the Saudis and its neighboring countries. I really mean that without sarcasm. The biggest Louvre outside of Paris. The one and only Ferrari theme park. Indoors skiing in the desert. The artificial islands. I like that stuff. Then again I like Epcot center and Disneyland.
We won't broach P&R, but I do like a glass of wine with a meal. As I understand it this is possible in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi (in licensed hotels) but not in KSA. My wife would be expected to conform to local dress codes in public places. I am not making a judgement but just commenting on effect of local laws on the enjoyability of attending an event. I don't think anything more needs to be said on the issue.
Season opening race update — Update: Start of Formula 1 season possible in Bahrain, problems in Australia Update 2-1-2021 | Rumours about postponement of GP become more intense After Auto, Motor und Sport already reported at the end of 2020 that the Australian Grand Prix might not be able to go ahead, RaceFans.net also reports the possibility of postponement. According to the British medium, the team personnel must first be quarantined for a fortnight on arrival, or, as in Abu Dhabi, a 'biosphere' should be created. Because Albert Park is a street circuit, the decision to continue or move the race must be made quickly. Normally the construction of the circuit starts at the end of January. Should the race be postponed, it will probably be moved to the second half of the season.
The opening round of the 2021 Formula 1 season in Australia is set to be postponed, Autosport has learned. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/154434/2021-f1-australian-gp-set-to-be-postponed After seeing its 2020 calendar undergo significant changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, F1 aimed to return to a more regular season in 2021 by announcing a 23-race schedule in November. The season was due to begin with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on 21 March, marking the first running of the race since 2019 after it was cancelled just hours before Friday practice was due to begin last year. But with Australia still enforcing strict travel restrictions, and amid global fears over the emergence of a new strain of COVID-19, doubts have been growing about the viability of the race. Autosport understands that the Australian Grand Prix now looks set to be postponed until later in the 2021 season, forcing a possible re-shuffle of the races later in the year. It means that the Bahrain Grand Prix scheduled for 28 March now looks poised to become the 2021 season-opener. Construction work on the temporary street circuit at Albert Park in Melbourne typically begins towards the end of January, but ticket sales are yet to begin for the race. It is thought that an announcement postponing the grand prix is set to be made later this month. Australia has taken a strict approach towards limiting the spread of COVID-19 since the outbreak, closing its borders to non-residents shortly after the F1 race was cancelled in March. Strict quarantine rules have been in place since March, forcing all arrivals in Australia and those moving between states to spend two weeks in designated quarantine hotels. There are currently 279 active cases estimated in Australia, while there have been 909 total deaths reported resulting from COVID-19.
With Melbourne and now Shanghai in jeopardy Liberty is looking at Imola and Portimao to replace those two races. Sounds great to me!
Agreed. Portimao was INSANELY great racing. That track should be a permanent addition to the calendar. Imola was ok, still better than sterile Shanghai. I do miss Melbourne.
https://www.gpfans.com/en/articles/61048/f1-teams-bickering-over-bahrain-switch-pre-season-test-date/
Guenther Steiner has admitted he fears disruption to the 2021 Formula 1 calendar on a similar scale to last year – for the first half of the season at least. A decision about whether the Australian Grand Prix will go ahead on March 21 is imminent, amid speculation that the traditional curtain-raiser is set to be postponed until October or November. Last year, the Melbourne race was cancelled altogether after a McLaren employee tested positive for COVID-19 with all the teams already set up at Albert Park, and subsequently the campaign was delayed until July and reduced to 17 grands prix. A total of 23 races have been scheduled for 2021 in a ‘normal’ calendar. But Haas team principal Steiner thinks that with the global health pandemic still raging, Formula 1 may again have to be flexible in order to complete as full a season as possible. The Chinese Grand Prix in April is another reported to be under threat. “While it looks likely that Australia will be postponed, I think the Bahrain race [on March 28] will happen,” said Steiner in his regular column for The Race. “They did a fantastic job at the end of last year and when we got there we felt very safe. They have very good control systems in place for the testing and everything is very well organised. “What comes after, I have no idea. At the moment it’s very difficult for me to understand what’s happening in China, so I think there will be a difficult beginning of the season.