The Chinese Grand Prix has reportedly been cancelled yet again due to Covid policies. The race has not been held in the country since 2019 - before the coronavirus pandemic swept across the entire world. However, with things now more stable, the plan was for F1 to return to China next year, but that decision has now understood to have been reversed.
Due to the country's zero-Covid policy the sport have now concluded the race cannot go ahead, at least for another year. This means the 2023 schedule will now consist of 23 races and F1 is not expected to replace the Chinese GP with a different one.
As a result of the cancellation, there will be a four-week gap in the 2023 schedule between the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on April 2 and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku on April 30. Therefore, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali is said to be meeting authorities in Baku in an attempt to persuade them to move the race forward a week to 23 April, but is currently facing some resistance.
If he is unable to persuade them to do so, it is expected that the gap will be left unfilled. With the Azerbaijan GP s contract due to expire next year, F1 are in talks with the nation about extending their race’s contract, with reports suggesting they may sign a new 10-year lucrative deal.
F1 has also been fine-tuning its analysis of which tracks are best suited to hosting sprint events - which feature a shorter race on Saturdays to set the grid for the main grand prix - and is close to settling on the six races that will host them in 2023. F1 is planning for these to be: Azerbaijan, Austria on 30 June to 2 July, Belgium on 28-30 July, Qatar on 6-8 October, the United States GP in Austin on 20-22 October and Brazil on 3-5 November.
As the sport looks ahead to next season, Fernando Alonso has lofty ambitions for 2023. The two-time world champion will drive for Aston Martin next year, replacing the now retired Sebastian Vettel. His underwhelming stint at Alpine ended in disappointment as he was unable to finish the Abu Dhabi GP on Sunday, but the Spaniard is looking forward to starting a new chapter in his excellent career.
Following 2022's final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, Alonso outlined his aims for the new campaign and still has his sights set on winning a third world title. "Ultimately winning the championship is what motivates me every day so [I am] still thinking the third [title] will be possible one day," the Spaniard said, as reported by the BBC.
"Maybe not next year, but who knows in the future. And now with this project of Aston Martin there are other things appealing to me - to try to build the team not from scratch but after this year they are hoping [to be] much better in the next few seasons.
"They have a lot of new people in the team, great talent, new facilities so it seems I join in this moment where we can join something together and become world champion one day. I don't know if I will be driving that year in the car but if not I hope I will still be in the organisation somehow and still be proud of that championship."