The news was in the air for a while, but the official announcement came only in the last few minutes from Formula 1: the Chinese Grand Prix, scheduled as the fourth stage of the world championship, has been canceled for 2023.
The pandemic situation in China, combined with the restrictions in the Asian country, have forced a dialogue between organizers, authorities and Formula 1. The outcome, unfortunately quite obvious, therefore removes the Grand Prix from the calendar for the fourth consecutive year. With that move, too Zhou Guangyu, an Alfa Romeo driver, will continue to not have the chance to race in his home Grand Prix.
In short communique released by Formula 1, we speak of a “evaluation of alternative options to replace the Grand Prix in the 2023 calendar”. This announcement will certainly not be provided soon, given the research times, but the Asian stage will certainly wait for at least 2024. There are various possible alternatives, but at the moment the 2023 calendar counts "only" (so to speak) 23 stages. Depending on the circuit chosen, it will also be possible to move dates to insert the twenty-fourth stage. Finally, we recall that the Chinese Grand Prix is under contract until 2025, but with the current cancellation it will presumably be extended until 2026; however, extremely strong doubts remain about the feasibility of this Grand Prix, especially in the current pandemic situation.
