Spa could keep its place on 2023 F1 calendar

Although the current deal with the venue ends this year, and it doesn’t have a place on the yet-to-be-published 24-race schedule for next season, Spa is in effect first reserve – pending news on other events.

The Chinese GP is supposed to be returning in 2023 after an absence of three seasons, but COVID measures remain a major issue in the country, and especially in the Shanghai area where the race is held, making it hard for F1 to fully commit to staging the event.

F1 also hopes to return to South Africa as early as 2023 after three decades away, but the commercial deal for the Kyalami event has not yet been agreed.

The uncertainty over both has opened the door for Spa, but the Belgian promoter will still have to come up with a package that suits F1, even if it doesn’t match the fees paid by events outside Europe.

Domenicali said that he couldn’t give too many details of the 2023 schedule, as it has yet to be finalised, but he insisted that Spa still had a chance.

“As you can imagine I cannot comment too much on that, because there is respect of discussing and formalising through the World Motor Sport Council with the FIA,” he said. “You never saw something [from] me saying that Belgium will be the last year.

“I would be prudent on that comment, I would say, I would be very prudent. That’s the only thing I would say. It’s true that we are working and discussing with other promoters to see if they’re ready for a full commitment already.

“There has been always a point that we have discussed to find the mix of the races where we’re going to have at least one-third in Europe, one third in the Far East area, and the other one in the Americas and Middle East. So we want to be balanced.

“Of course, we’re talking about a business where investment, the financial contribution, is very important, but we have always said that the traditional races, the races that we know they cannot bring the money that the others are bringing, have a full respect from us.

“So you will see that this will be respected also, not only this year, but also in the future. With Belgium, discussions are still on.”

He added: “There is a lot of respect for these places. But if you recall, Belgium, there were some periods where it was not in the calendar, and they came back again. The memory sometimes is short. It’s a great place, no doubt about it. And that’s why we are discussing.

“What I can say is that we…