F1 calendar reshuffle as Turkish GP postponed, Austria to again host two races

The Red Bull Ring Statue — Photo: © LAT Images

Formula 1

F1 calendar reshuffle as Turkish GP postponed, Austria to again host two races

France now hosts its race a week earlier

Ian Parkes

Friday 14 May 2021 15:01 Updated: 15:15

Austria will again play host to two grands prix this season following F1's decision to officially postpone the race in Turkey after the country was recently placed on the UK government's red list.

In a calendar reshuffle, there will now be no grand prix on the weekend of June 11-13 following the race in Azerbaijan a week previously.

Instead, the French GP that was due to take place on June 25-27 will be staged a week earlier on June 18-20, kickstarting a triple-header as it will be followed by the two events in Austria.

Article continues under video

The first race at the Red Bull Ring - that will again be known as the Styrian GP - will run on the original French GP date of June 25-27, with the Austrian GP on its current date of July 2-4.

The sport had spent time weighing up whether to return to Istanbul following the UK government's move due to a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in Turkey.

The situation was complicated by the fact anyone who visited Turkey and wished to return to the UK would have had to quarantine for a period of 10 days in a designated hotel. The other alternative was remaining on the road before heading to France.

With neither option favourable, the race that initially replaced the cancelled Canadian GP has been put on hold.

According to F1 "the promoter has requested that we look at the potential opportunity for the race to be rescheduled later in the season if possible, alongside China who made the same request earlier this year".

Via a statement, F1 added: "We are grateful to the Turkish promoter for their support in recent days and the recognition that the current travel situation made the race in June impossible.

"We are equally grateful to the Provence-Alpes Cote d’Azur region and French Grand Prix promoter for their flexibility, and the Austrian promoter for their enthusiasm to host a second race at short notice following the huge success of the two races in Austria in 2020."

Last season, following the cancellation or postponement of numerous grands prix due to the pandemic, F1 started off with back-to-back races in Austria in early July.

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said: “We were all looking forward to racing in Turkey but the travel restrictions in place have meant we are not able to be there in June.

"Formula 1 has shown again that it is able to react quickly to developments and find solutions and we are delighted that we will have a double-header in Austria meaning our season remains at 23 races.

“I want to thank the promoter and authorities in Turkey for all of their efforts in recent weeks and want to thank the promoters in France and Austria for their speed, flexibility and enthusiasm in accommodating this solution.

"We have had very good conversations will all the other promoters since the start of the year and continue to work closely with them during this period.”

It is understood that at this stage the races in Singapore, Japan, Mexico and Australia are under threat given the pandemic situation in each country, which is why China and Turkey are on standby to return conditions permitting and should a vacancy arise.