Formula 1 makes obvious decision on upcoming schedule

Formula 1 officially made the call on the replacement for the canceled Russian Grand Prix, which was scheduled to take place in September at Sochi Autodrom.

Before the 2022 Formula 1 season began, the decision was made to cancel this year’s running of the Russian Grand Prix at Sochi Autodrom as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

This race was due to be the ninth and final race at the 18-turn, 3.634-mile (5.848-kilometer) road course in Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia before the move to Autodrom Igora Drive in St. Petersburg for 2023, but Formula 1 no longer plans to race in Russia at all moving forward.

This year’s Russian Grand Prix was scheduled to take place on Sunday, September 25. It was the 17th of a record-breaking 23 races on the 2022 schedule.

But five races into the season, a replacement had yet to be confirmed.

Two potential replacement options had emerged: a race at Losail International Circuit (Qatar Grand Prix) or a second race in Singapore.

Losail International Circuit was added to the schedule for the first time in 2021 since other venues had lost their race dates due to COVID-19-related restrictions. It was not added to the 2022 calendar since Qatar is scheduled to host the FIFA World Cup, but it is due to return to the schedule in 2023.

As for Singapore, Marina Bay Street Circuit, which saw its races canceled in both 2020 and 2021 as a result of those restrictions, is already scheduled to host the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday, October 2, just one week after the Russian Grand Prix was scheduled to take place.

However, the official decision has finally been made not to replace the Russian Grand Prix for 2022, a decision that had become somewhat expected as of late.

This leaves the 2022 schedule at 22 races, which ties the all-time record set by last year’s schedule. It also leaves two consecutive off weekends between the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on Sunday, September 11 and the aforementioned Singapore Grand Prix.

The sixth race on the 2022 schedule is the Spanish Grand Prix, which is scheduled to take place at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this coming Sunday, May 22 following an off weekend after the inaugural Miami Grand Prix.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc leads the driver standings by 19 points ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with Ferrari just six points ahead of Red Bull in the constructor standings.