Will F1 approve 21 race F1 schedule? (Update)
UPDATE AR1.com heard a rumor this weekend that the Malaysian GP could drop off the F1 calendar next year, but we think that might just be the GP2 series race, which makes no sense to fly all the way there from a cost perspective. Meanwhile the future of the Korean GP is set to be plunged into fresh doubt after a fire truck was deployed midway through Sunday's race without proper permission. In a remarkable interlude to proceedings, the race was brought to an unexpected crawl when race leader Sebastian Vettel suddenly encountered the fire track as it meandered along the back-straight on lap 37. The race had only just been re-started after the Safety Car was called out when the front-right tire of Sergio Perez's McLaren lost its tread. As the field snaked through Turn Three, Mark Webber's RB9 was hit by the Force India of Adrian Sutil and, for the second time in as many races, caught fire. Although the fire was quickly extinguished, the fire truck was then sent out in "a unilateral decision" taken by the circuit's fire chief without approval from Race Control. "It's an outrageous thing to happen and totally outside organizational procedure," reported Sky F1's Ted Kravitz.
10/05/13 With the South Korea race pretty much a foregone conclusion after this year, might this be the 21-race schedule that gets approved with Spain and Monaco moved up a week to allow time to transport the series from Monaco to NJ:
2014 F1 Schedule
1. Mar 16: Australia
2. Mar 30: Malaysia
3. Apr 6: Bahrain
4. Apr 20: China
5. May 4: Spain
6. May 18: Monaco
7. Jun 1: New Jersey (provisional)
8. Jun 8: Canada
9. Jun 22: Austria
10. Jul 6: Britain
11. Jul 20: Germany
12. Jul 27: Hungary
13. Aug 24: Belgium
14. Sep 7: Italy
15. Sep 21: Singapore
16. Oct 5: Russia
17. Oct 12: Japan
18. Oct 26: Abu Dhabi
19. Nov 9: USA (Austin)
20. Nov 16: Mexico (provisional)
21. Nov 30: Brazil