The FIA World Motor Sport Council has issued a calendar for the 2018 F1 World Championship – the first in decades not personally put together by Bernie Ecclestone.
There are no major surprises on the 21-race schedule, with Malaysia going and Germany and France back, both via deals that were concluded by Ecclestone.
Inevitably the addition of two European dates has created some congestion in the summer. Despite moving Baku from June to the end of April F1’s new bosses have come up with the first triple-header, with France, Austria and Silverstone on consecutive weekends, and Germany/Hungary and Belgium/Italy also back to backs, the latter pair matching this year’s schedule
Russia has been moved from its April date to September, and now features in an unusual back-to-back with Japan.