Unswerving Covid-19 policy kills off Shanghai F1 GP

China’s dictatorial Covid-19 policy has killed off Shanghai’s return to the Formula 1 calendar next year.

F1 has not visited China since 2019 and was due to return for the fourth time in 2023 on April 16.

The key sticking point is that F1 staff would not be given exemptions from quarantine requirements in the event of being infected. F1 refuses to ask teams to go to the country for a race in Shanghai while there is a risk that staff could be detained for days if they visit Disneyworld at the wrong time.

China’s rules demand that anyone found with Covid must spend five days at a government isolation centre plus three days of isolation at home.

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has not yet officially called the race off, but the decision is considered inevitable.

In fact, the Shanghai GP has rarely been far from controversy. The sport is virtually unknown in China and previous events have been far from successful in terms of the spectacle the F1 usually generates. Spectators in the past have been outnumbered by teams and the press corps.

Back in 2010 Bernie Ecclestone, F1 supremo at the time said…

“It’s a shame, the whole venue’s good, everything’s good, they’re not promoting it properly, it’s as simple as that.

“These people that run the place should do a bit more, in the centre of Shanghai, you wouldn’t even know there’s a race here.”

The sport is not expected to replace China with another race – drivers are already uncomfortable about the number of races – so the packed schedule will be cut to 23 races – still the most ever, but one fewer than the original plan.

China’s covid policy will carve a four-week gap in the busy schedule between the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on April 2 and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku on 30 April. Domenicali is in talks with Baku to persuade them to move the race forward a week to April 23 but is meeting resistance. If Baku cannot be persuaded, the gap will likely be left unfilled.

The talks include a possible extension to Azerbaijan’s race contract, due to end next year. But Azerbaijan pays one of the largest fees of any race, and so is expected to sign a new 10-year deal.