Formula 1: Three races have been added to the schedule

The 2023 Formula 1 schedule features an all-time record 24 races, including three which are not a part of this year’s calendar.

Formula 1 revealed the schedule for the 2023 season on Tuesday, and it features an all-time record 24 races.

Interestingly, each of the last three seasons was set to see a record number of races as well, and while two of them did, none of them saw the totals they were initially slated to.

Entering 2020, the all-time record was 21, set in 2016, 2018, and 2019. There were initially 22 races on the schedule before COVID-19-related restrictions led to an overhauled 17-race calendar.

There were then set to be 23 races in 2021, but similar restrictions led to a less-but-still-somewhat overhauled 22-race schedule which still set a new record.

Then in 2022, there were again scheduled to be a record 23 events, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine led to the Russian Grand Prix being canceled. The schedule still ended up with a record-tying 22 races.

Of the 24 races planned for next year, three were not on this year’s schedule, and one has never before been contested.

The two returning events are the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit and the Qatar Grand Prix at Losail International Circuit.

The 16-turn, 3.388-mile (5.452-kilometer) Jiading, Shanghai, China road course’s most recent race took place in 2019, which marked the 16th consecutive season for the Chinese Grand Prix. COVID-19-related restrictions led to its cancelation in 2020, and it hasn’t been back since.

The only Formula 1 race ever contested at the 16-turn, 3.343-mile (5.381-kilometer) Lusail, Al Daayen, Qatar road course took place in 2021. Despite the fact that the track wasn’t on the 2022 schedule, it still has a 10-year deal with Formula 1. Because of Qatar’s focus on this year’s World Cup, that deal simply doesn’t go into effect until 2023.

As for the one true “addition” to next year’s calendar, the Las Vegas Grand Prix is set to serve as the third race in the United States, and it is set to be contested on a Saturday, something that has only happened three times in Formula 1 history. The 1985 South African Grand Prix at Kyalami Circuit is the most recent race to have been contested on a Saturday.

Formula 1 has been to Las Vegas, Nevada before for the Caesars Palace Grand Prix (1981 and 1982), but the 17-turn, 3.800-mile (6.116-kilometer) temporary street circuit for next year’s race is one that hasn’t yet been run.