F1: Proposed environmentally friendly ’24 and ’25 F1 schedules (Update)
–by Mark Cipolloni–
Given Sergio Perez’s father’s strong statements regarding a race in Cancun, Mexico starting in 2014, I have modified the two proposed schedules below to see where Cancun would fit best in keeping with grouping races regionally to reduce F1’s transportation carbon footprint.
Cancun could be paired with the Miami and Canada race in May. May is the third driest month of the year, in Cancun. Cloud coverage is generally heavier than in previous months, and humidity is very high, hence since he is talking about a street race, we assume it will be a night race.
The other option is to run the Cancun race late in the season, perhaps back-to-back with the Mexico City race. The weather in November is slightly better than in May temperatures are a few degrees lower and the humidity tends to drop at night. Although this is a possibility, for arguments sake we assume in the proposed schedules below that Cancun would be paired with the Miami and Montreal in May.
For arguments sake, we will pair it with the Miami race in 2024 and in 2025 we have to assume the South African GP will not happen since the schedule was already at 25 races. Hence Kyalami has been removed, and Cancun added.
25 Races starting in 2024 – wow if true.
25-Race Environmentally Friendly 2024 F1 calendar
Ramadan Mar 10 to Apr 9
| Round | Date | Grand Prix | Venue | Comment |
| – | February 7-9 | Pre-season testing | Jerez or Barcelona | Sunny & warm |
| 1 | February 18 (Night Race) | Saudi Arabia | Jeddah | Middle East Swing |
| 2 | February 25 (Night Race) | Qatar | Lusail | |
| 3 | March 3 (Night Race) | Bahrain | Sakhir | |
| 4 | March 9 (Sat Night to avoid Ramadan) | Abu Dhabi | Yas Marina | |
| 5 | March 24 | Australia | Melbourne | Australia / Asia Swing |
| March 31 | Easter No Race | |||
| 6 | April 14 (Night Race) | Singapore | Singapore | |
| 7 | April 28 | China | Shanghai | |
| 8 | May 5 | Japan | Suzuka | |
| 9 | May 19 (Night Race) | Cancun | Cancun | Americas East Swing |
| 10 | May 25 (Sat. evening dusk to dark) | Miami | Miami Gardens | |
| 11 | June 2 | Canada | Montreal | |
| 12 | June 16 | Monaco | Monaco | European Swing Part 1 |
| 13 | June 30 | United Kingdom | Silverstone | |
| 14 | July 7 | Austria | Spielberg | |
| 15 | July 21 | Hungary | Budapest | |
| 16 | July 28 | Belgium | Spa | |
| 4-week Summer Break | ||||
| 17 | August 25 | Netherlands | Zandvoort | European Swing Part 2 |
| 18 | September 1 | Italy | Monza | |
| 19 | September 15 | Spain | Barcelona | |
| 20 | September 28 | Emilia Romagna | Imola | |
| 21 | October 13 | Azerbaijan | Baku | |
| 22 | October 27 | USA | Austin | Americas Swing |
| 23 | November 3 | Mexico | Mexico City | |
| 24 | November 17 | Brazil | Sao Paulo | |
| 25 | December 2 (Sat Night) | Las Vegas | Las Vegas | |
25-Race Environmentally Friendly 2025 F1 calendar
Ramadan Feb 28 to Mar 30
| Round | Date | Grand Prix | Venue | Comment |
| – | February 13-15 | Pre-season testing | Jerez or Barcelona | Sunny & Warm |
| 1 | March 2 | Australia | Melbourne | Australia / Asia Swing |
| 2 | March 9 (Night Race) | Singapore | Singapore | |
| 3 | March 23 | China | Shanghai | |
| 4 | March 30 | Japan | Suzuka | |
| 5 | April 13 (Night Race) | Saudi Arabia | Jeddah | Middle East Swing |
| April 20 | Easter – No Race | |||
| 6 | April 27 (Night Race) | Qatar | Lusail | |
| 7 | May 4 (Night Race) | Bahrain | Sakhir | |
| 8 | May 11 (Night race) | Abu Dhabi | Yas Marina | |
| 9 | May 25 (Night Race) | Cancun | Cancun | North America East Swing |
| 10 | June 1 (Evening dusk to dark) | Miami | Miami Gardens | |
| 11 | June 8 | Canada | Montreal | |
| 12 | June 22 | Monaco | Monaco | European Swing Part 1 |
| 13 | June 29 | United Kingdom | Silverstone | |
| 14 | July 6 | Austria | Spielberg | |
| 15 | July 20 | Hungary | Budapest | |
| 16 | July 27 | Belgium | Spa | |
| 4-week Summer Break | ||||
| 17 | August 24 | Netherlands | Zandvoort | European Swing Part 2 |
| 18 | September 7 | Italy | Monza | |
| 19 | September 14 | Spain | Barcelona | |
| 20 | September 21 | Emilia Romagna | Imola | |
| 21 | October 12 | Azerbaijan | Baku | |
| 22 | October 26 | USA | Austin | Americas Swing |
| 23 | November 2 | Mexico | Mexico City | |
| 24 | November 16 | Brazil | Sao Paulo | |
| 25 | November 22 (Sat Night) | Las Vegas | Las Vegas | |
March 11, 2023
–by Mark Cipolloni–
The FIA and Formula 1 have a dilemma with their Formula 1 schedule – the entire circus crisscrosses the globe in a very inefficient manner – resulting in unnecessary burning of fossil fuel and a strain on the traveling team members.
This article proposes a new schedule for 2024 and 2015 in an effort to meet F1’s goal of being as ‘green’ as possible.
There may be only one way to fix it.
Group the races by regions of the world to optimize travel distances while making sure all the races are run at times of the year when temperatures are moderate for the fans, teams and drivers.
Where excessive heat and humidity cannot be avoided, the race is designated a night event.
In doing the scheduling work I always used a 2-week gap minimum when the circus moves from one region of the world to another. There were a few problems that had to be overcome as I laid out proposed schedules for 2024 and 2025.
Solving the Canadian GP Problem
Currently, the Canadian GP is scheduled in June every year, right in the middle of the European season and that requires that the entire F1 circus fly from Europe to Canada and back just for that one race.
The FIA keeps pressuring Canada to move their race to mid-May so it can be paired with Miami in early May, but it is too freaking cold in Montreal in mid-May.
Sure, you might get lucky once in a while and get a high in the 60s-F, but there is a 95% chance the high will be in 30s-F in the morning rising to the 50s-F in the afternoon. That will negatively impact attendance, and on cold tires we could see crashes galore.
The Miami race should ideally be in April because as we saw last year, during the day in Miami from May 1st through October 1st, daytime temperatures can be unbearable.
Having fans sit in the sun on hot, humid days will negatively impact attendance over time.
However, the nights in Miami are delightful in May and even early June.
“I’m partial to night races because I think they’re beautiful environments,” Tyler Epp, President of the Miami GP, told RacingNews365.
“I really enjoyed Singapore. We would never say never (for Miami to be a night race), but there are no immediate plans in this case.”
Well, Mr. Epp, it’s time to stop using the word ‘never.’
The solution to the Montreal schedule problem, and the Miami heat-exhausted fan and driver problem, is to move the Miami race to late May under the lights (which would be absolutely spectacular), and to pair it with the Montreal race moved to earlier in June.
Of course, Monaco would lose its traditional date in late May immediately after the Festival de Cannes, but the race was just fine when the Festival de Cannes was postponed two months in 2021.
Avoiding Religious Holidays Ramadan and Easter
Assuming China returns to the schedule in 2024 , below is what a more environmentally friendly schedule would look like.
It would sometimes involve 3 or 4 races on consecutive weekends, but the teams would be glad to suck it up if the races are grouped sensibly, and they would not have to return to that part of the world a 2nd time.
I had to make some major changes to the schedule to make it work, and some races had to lose their traditional dates, but they are still held in times of the year when the weather is pleasant. There is flexibility in case I overlooked something. The Religious Holidays of Ramadan and Easter were accounted for.
2024 and 2025
2024 was a bit difficult because of the dates Ramadan falls on and the countries that celebrate it. It required starting the season earlier than normal, a sacrifice for just one year.
In 2025, I increased the schedule to 25 races with the assumption South Africa would be added to the schedule. South Africa would be an outlier given its geographic location.
Ramadan will be an issue in 2025 as well.
24-Race Environmentally Friendly 2024 F1 calendar
Ramadan Mar 10 to Apr 9
| Round | Date | Grand Prix | Venue | Comment |
| – | February 7-9 | Pre-season testing | Jerez or Barcelona | Sunny & warm |
| 1 | February 18 (Night Race) | Saudi Arabia | Jeddah | Middle East Swing |
| 2 | February 25 (Night Race) | Qatar | Lusail | |
| 3 | March 3 (Night Race) | Bahrain | Sakhir | |
| 4 | March 9 (Sat Night to avoid Ramadan) | Abu Dhabi | Yas Marina | |
| 5 | March 24 | Australia | Melbourne | Australia / Asia Swing |
| March 31 | Easter No Race | |||
| 6 | April 14 (Night Race) | Singapore | Singapore | |
| 7 | April 28 | China | Shanghai | |
| 8 | May 5 | Japan | Suzuka | |
| 9 | May 25 (Sat. evening dusk to dark) | Miami | Miami Gardens | North America East Swing |
| 10 | June 2 | Canada | Montreal | |
| 11 | June 16 | Monaco | Monaco | European Swing Part 1 |
| 12 | June 30 | United Kingdom | Silverstone | |
| 13 | July 7 | Austria | Spielberg | |
| 14 | July 21 | Hungary | Budapest | |
| 15 | July 28 | Belgium | Spa | |
| 4-week Summer Break | ||||
| 16 | August 25 | Netherlands | Zandvoort | European Swing Part 2 |
| 17 | September 1 | Italy | Monza | |
| 18 | September 15 | Spain | Barcelona | |
| 19 | September 28 | Emilia Romagna | Imola | |
| 20 | October 13 | Azerbaijan | Baku | |
| 21 | October 27 | USA | Austin | Americas Swing |
| 22 | November 3 | Mexico | Mexico City | |
| 23 | November 17 | Brazil | Sao Paulo | |
| 24 | December 2 (Sat Night) | Las Vegas | Las Vegas | |
25-Race Environmentally Friendly 2025 F1 calendar
Ramadan Feb 28 to Mar 30
| Round | Date | Grand Prix | Venue | Comment |
| – | February 13-15 | Pre-season testing | Kyalami | South Africa Swing |
| 1 | February 23 | South Africa | Kyalami | |
| 2 | March 2 | Australia | Melbourne | Australia / Asia Swing |
| 3 | March 9 (Night Race) | Singapore | Singapore | |
| 4 | March 23 | China | Shanghai | |
| 5 | March 30 | Japan | Suzuka | |
| 6 | April 13 (Night Race) | Saudi Arabia | Jeddah | Middle East Swing |
| April 20 | Easter – No Race | |||
| 7 | April 27 (Night Race) | Qatar | Lusail | |
| 8 | May 4 (Night Race) | Bahrain | Sakhir | |
| 9 | May 11 (Night race) | Abu Dhabi | Yas Marina | |
| 10 | May 24 (Sat. evening dusk to dark) | Miami | Miami Gardens | North America East Swing |
| 11 | June 1 | Canada | Montreal | |
| 12 | June 15 | Monaco | Monaco | European Swing Part 1 |
| 13 | June 29 | United Kingdom | Silverstone | |
| 14 | July 6 | Austria | Spielberg | |
| 15 | July 20 | Hungary | Budapest | |
| 16 | July 27 | Belgium | Spa | |
| 4-week Summer Break | ||||
| 17 | August 24 | Netherlands | Zandvoort | European Swing Part 2 |
| 18 | September 7 | Italy | Monza | |
| 19 | September 14 | Spain | Barcelona | |
| 20 | September 21 | Emilia Romagna | Imola | |
| 21 | October 12 | Azerbaijan | Baku | |
| 22 | October 26 | USA | Austin | Americas Swing |
| 23 | November 2 | Mexico | Mexico City | |
| 24 | November 16 | Brazil | Sao Paulo | |
| 25 | November 22 (Sat Night) | Las Vegas | Las Vegas | |