Everyone wants to be on the F1 calendar
Formula 1 runs fast, and not only on the track. Having already digested the news of the recovery in the 2026 F1 calendar of the Bahrain GP in Malaysia next October 4, the attention of the GP paddock moves forward and it is certain that, if the geopolitical situation in the Persian Gulf remains the same, alternative solutions will have to be considered both for the end of this season – with Imola dramatically back in the running to host a GP – and for the start of the next one. But the plans of the big boss of F1, Stefano Domenicali, go even further: his phone rings incessantly because many countries want to host a GP. F1 is still, and more than ever, the object of desire both for new exotic places and for old motorsport cathedrals like Hockenheim.
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The story of Stefano Domenicali
“I cite two cases in Europe – explains Domenicali in a press conference in which FormulaPassion.it also participated – like Germany and France. The relationship with Canal+ is fantastic and we are not organizing a French GP not because we don’t want to but because France would like to push me to say ‘come on, let’s do it!’. My phone is always available to organize a race and, if they want to do it, we are ready. In Germany we have resumed contacts to see if in the future, in the medium term and not in the short term, they can have a race again. But we have the TV agreement with RTL and in the new tender on the German market we will soon have for the first time more than one operator interested in participating. It is another sign that in Europe, which is our most important market, attention is becoming even greater.”
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“I think I can say – he adds later, speaking more generally about all the other possible GPs on the schedule – that negotiations are going very well in Africa. Things happen quickly and I almost forgot that next year we will have Portugal and Turkey again. We are conducting other negotiations in South America and we have other discussions ongoing in the Far East (for example, interest from India is known, ed)”. “One thing I can tell you is that we have received further requests from China as well as from Japan for a second race but, for the moment, we want to limit ourselves to only one GP, because we still have to consolidate and strengthen the market in that area before thinking about other options,” said Stefano Domenicali regarding the future of the F1 calendar.
