No replacement for cancelled Chinese GP, as F1 affirms 23-race 2023 season

• Sports

F1 had confirmed in a statement earlier this week that it would not replace its cancelled Chinese GP, suggesting the 2023 F1 season would have 23 races rather than a previously slated 24 events. In the matter of the fact, latest statement from Formula 1 came forth as Formula 1 had cancelled out this year’s Chinese GP on last December which was scheduled to take place on April 16 this year due to stiffer pandemic-restriction regulations.

At that time, F1 had said in a statement that it had to rule out the 2023 Chinese GP due to “the ongoing difficulties presented by the Covid-19 situation”.

F1 will not replace China GP despite the country's ease in zero-covid policy

Nonetheless, China had entirely freed itself from a contemptuous zero-Covid policy earlier this month, however, followed by a sudden ease in pandemic restriction, China has been witnessing millions of new pandemic infections every day, which was anticipated contemplating that the zero-Covid policy had barred China’s citizens from developing immunity against the predominant omicron variant.

However, death rates from latest surge in pandemic infection, which is believed to have caused by a sub-variant of Omicron, Kraken, remained extremely low and the patients had shown very mild or no symptoms at all. Even though, while the Formula 1 authorities had decided against holding an event in China this year, in a short statement issued earlier this week, F1 said, “Formula One can confirm the 2023 season will consist of 23 races.

All existing race dates on the calendar remain unchanged”. Formula 1 never returned to China after its 2019 event, meaning that the world’s second-largest economy which is expected to surpass the US by 2025, about half a decade earlier compared to a previous projection, would not be able to witness a Formula 1 event for four straight seasons in a row.