Over the past week, rumours emerged that Chicago and Formula 1 came to an agreement on hosting a fourth race in the US from 2026. But this rumour has been shot down by F1 who seem to have more interest on the other side of the globe.
Image: Reuters
In 2022 Miami was added to the calendar, making it two US Grands Prix. A year later, Las Vegas was added too, making it three. It was shortly rumoured that F1 may have interest in another race in the US, with speculations floating around that Chicago being the favourite. These rumours began to become more concrete, as a user on X (formerly known as Twitter) called ‘Fastest Pitstop’ exclusively reported a signed agreement.
However, reliable journalists have quickly confirmed that there is no truth in this exclusive information. ‘Fastest Pitstop’ later apologised in a short statement, saying that they “are disappointed that we fell short of this in this instance”, assuring the community that it takes “our reporting seriously” with the goal to “prevent similar occurrences in the future”. Days later, more reliable outlets again confirmed the wrong information on this case.
Now what is going on over in Asia?
Formula 1 seems very interested in the market over there and apparently eyes to expand the calendar by adding races hosted in countries of the Far East. Thailand is a new contender to join the calendar as talks already started in April between prime minister Srettha Thavisin and F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali. The Thai government is keen on a street circuit in Bangkok to boost tourism.
Image: PlantsofHotels
In Imola, Thavisin met with Domenicali again to discuss further about the idea of bringing F1 to Thailand. The prime minister targets either 2027 or 2028 as the debut year of Thailand on the F1 calendar.
But Thailand is not the only country in the Far East because South Korea seems to be keen to join the calendar as well. Over the weekend of the Japanese Grand Prix a letter of intent by the mayor of Incheon was sent to Domenicali. According to him “Incheon is the best place to host Formula 1.” He names their transportation networks and “many luxury accommodations” as advantages. They intend to debut in 2026 or 2027.
And what about Europe?
Domenicali told Italian press ahead of the Imola Grand Prix weekend that they are seeing “a lot of interest from a lot of countries” which presents an opportunity to develop further. However, at the same time it’s F1’s decision which country they add to or dismiss from the calendar.
He said: “We are seeing a growing interest in the Far East and the United States, but also a revival in Europe, most probably thanks to Madrid, which gave a shake-up just when everyone thought that nobody on the Old World was interested in doing something new.”
Several European races are out of contract after 2025, including both Italian races and also the races in Belgium and the Netherlands. Reportedly, Imola wants to recover their cancelled 2023 race in 2026 while Spa and Zandvoort could rotate from 2026 onwards.
“Italy is central to the F1 calendar, but we need to address important issues related to the resources the country intends to invest and the infrastructure, because we need to change pace by improving the safety of the race tracks and the services offered to the public,” Domenicali told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“At the end of August, at Monza, we will take stock with government institutions and [Italian automobile federation] ACI. It is still possible that Italy will keep two races after 2026, but realistically I think it will be quite difficult.”
Barcelona still has a contract until 2026 but the Spanish GP moves to Madrid that year, so we might see two races in Spain. Madrid signed for 10 years. Looking at Hungary, F1 will stay at Budapest until 2032 as it’s one of a few European races which extended for the long-term. Same goes to Austria and the Red Bull Ring.