It may be a season of small changes in terms of regulations, but the calendar sees some tracks return and new(ish) additions, whilst there will also be some fresh faces in the paddock. Part 2 of the F1 2021 Season Preview takes a look at where F1 will hopefully race this year, as well as who will be behind the wheel.
The Calendar
| Round No. | Grand Prix | Circuit | Date |
| 1 | Bahrain Grand Prix | Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir | 26th-28th March |
| 2 | Emilia Romagna Grand Prix | Imola Circuit, Imola | 16th-18th April |
| 3 | Portuguese Grand Prix | Algarve International Circuit, Portimão | 30th April-2nd May |
| 4 | Spanish Grand Prix | Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Montmeló | 7th-9th May |
| 5 | Monaco Grand Prix | Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo | 20th-23rd May |
| 6 | Azerbaijan Grand Prix | Baku City Circuit, Baku | 4th-6th June |
| 7 | Canadian Grand Prix | Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montréal | 11th-13th June |
| 8 | French Grand Prix | Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet | 25th-27th June |
| 9 | Austrian Grand Prix | Red Bull Ring, Spielberg | 2nd-4th July |
| 10 | British Grand Prix | Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone | 16th-18th July |
| 11 | Hungarian Grand Prix | Hungaroring, Mogyoród | 30th July-1st August |
| 12 | Belgian Grand Prix | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot | 27th-29th August |
| 13 | Dutch Grand Prix | Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort | 3rd-5th September |
| 14 | Italian Grand Prix | Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza | 10th–12th September |
| 15 | Russian Grand Prix | Sochi Autodrom, Sochi | 24th-26th September |
| 16 | Singapore Grand Prix | Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore | 1st-3rd October |
| 17 | Japanese Grand Prix | Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka | 8th-10th October |
| 18 | United States Grand Prix | Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas | 22nd-24th October |
| 19 | Mexico City Grand Prix | Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City | 29th-31st October |
| 20 | São Paulo Grand Prix | Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo | 5th-7th November |
| 21 | Australian Grand Prix | Albert Park, Melbourne | 19th-21st November |
| 22 | Saudi Arabian Grand Prix | Jeddah Street Circuit, Jeddah | 3rd-5th December |
| 23 | Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi | 10th-12th December |
New event for 2021: Saudi Arabia
A track that very few fans asked for, but we’re going to get anyway, the Saudi Arabian GP makes its debut in 2022 with a 10-year contract. Named as the ‘fastest street track’ on the F1 calendar, the cars are simulated to have an average speed in excess of 250 km/h (160 mph).
At 6.175 km, the Jeddah Street Circuit will be the second longest track on the current calendar, behind Spa-Francorchamps, and will have 27 turns. It is scheduled to take place on the first weekend of December, forming a double-header with the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP.
Cancelled 2020 events returning: Australia, The Netherlands, Azerbaijan, Canada, France, Singapore, Japan, USA, Mexico (Mexico City) and Brazil (São Paulo)
All of these events were shelved due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, with a mixture of inability to construct street tracks, organisers only wanting to host GPs with fans in attendance, and travel restrictions prevented these races from occurring.
The Australian GP has already been rescheduled for 2021, whilst The Netherlands has moved from May to September in an effort to host their race with fans, to form a triple header with Spa and Monza. The race at Zandvoort was due to return for the first time in 35 years in 2020, but was cancelled and not rescheduled last year.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix organisers have already confirmed that this year’s event will take place behind closed doors. However, fans are predicted to attend in a limited capacity at most tracks.
Races in Mexico and Brazil will run under the Mexico City Grand Prix and São Paulo Grand Prix respectively due to new contracts. Yet, the latter has been challenged in Brazilian courts in the wake of a failed attempt to move the race to Rio de Janeiro, so this may be a plotline to keep an eye on as the season develops, as well as the alarming situation with COVID-19 in Brazil.
Cancelled 2020 events not returning: China and Vietnam
The Chinese GP was postponed in the re-shuffle in January, as the country has banned international events until 2022. Although organisers are keen to see a race there this year, there is currently no space on the calendar for Shanghai’s return. The race was originally scheduled for the 18th April.
Vietnam was removed for 2021 due to the arrest of a Hanoi’s People’s Committee Chairman, Nguyen Duc Chung, on corruption charges. Nguyen was a key official responsible for organising the race. It seems as though Hanoi is destined to never host that race, which was pencilled in for the 25th April.
Replacement 2020 events remaining on the calendar: Emilia Romagna and Portugal
With an early calendar reshuffle leaving over a month’s gap between Bahrain and Spain, F1 organisers have filled it with two tracks that plugged the void in 2020. The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola returns on the 18th April and will be held behind closed doors, like in 2020.
Portugal also returns on the 2nd May, forming a double header with Barcelona (9th May). Whilst fans were in attendance in 2020, a repeat is unlikely in 2021 as Portugal grapples with a second wave.
Replacement 2020 events not returning: Styria, 70th Anniversary, Tuscany, Eifel, Turkey and Sakhir
These races were replacement events to fill the gaps left by the cancellations. This doesn’t mean that we won’t see some of these tracks again, even though a record-23 race calendar is currently filled.
Turkey would likely be the leading candidate to replace Canada if that event is cancelled, due to its proximity to Azerbaijan, which hosts their race a week before. Istanbul and a return to the Bahrain Outer Ring is also a prospect should races near the end of 2021 be cancelled, whilst Mugello and the Nürburgring are useful tracks if European rounds like France or The Netherlands cancel for a second consecutive year.
Further calendar changes:
On the 12th January 2021, further amendments to the calendar were made. As already mentioned, the season-opening Australian GP was moved from the 21st March to 21st November in an effort to increase the chances of having fans, especially with Australia’s tough travel restrictions.
This change meant that Bahrain became the first race of the 2021 season. In a move that has shown logic, pre-season testing was relocated to the same venue, having previously taken place at Barcelona. Testing was condensed to three days and ran from 12th-15th March.
To make space for this change, the São Paulo GP was moved forward a week from 14th November to the 7th November, whilst the Saudi Arabian and Abu Dhabi rounds were pushed back to 5th and 12th December respectively. This allowed the Australian GP to be a stand-alone event so drivers and team personnel would be able to fulfil a quarantine period if necessary.
The change meant that there will be three triple headers across three continents after the summer break (Belgium-The Netherlands-Italy, Russia-Singapore-Japan and USA-Mexico City-São Paulo). Though three triple headers were also held in 2020, they did not involve such a vast amount of travelling.
In the wake off the cancellation of the Chinese and Vietnamese rounds on 18th and 25th April, they were replaced with the Emilia Romagna and Portuguese Grand Prix. Whilst Imola took the 18th April slot, the race at Portimão was scheduled for the 2nd May.
F1 still haven’t read my article on the flawed logic of a standard calendar, but it is heading in the right direction, although the Azerbaijan-Canada double header is still a particular bug bear of mine. I do worry that the 23 races is too ambitious, and the three triple headers after the summer break will take its toll. At least viewers have plenty of racing to enjoy in 2021, as long as there are no further interruptions to the schedule. I’m also thoroughly pleased to see Portimão stick around for another season.
Driver & Team line-ups
Ferrari’s announcement that 4-time World Champion, Sebastian Vettel, would be leaving the team kicked off silly season before the racing even started in 2021. Only three teams stick with the same line-up as they had last season, whilst three rookies are also present this year.
Mercedes (GER) – #44: Lewis Hamilton (GBR) & #77: Valtteri Bottas (FIN)
Mercedes have the longest driver partnership on the grid dating back to 2017. They signed both Lewis and Valtteri on one-year extensions and will be looking for an eighth consecutive Constructor’s title.
Red Bull (AUT) – #11: Sergio Pérez (MEX) & #33: Max Verstappen (NLD)
Red Bull enter the season with a few changes, the team loses not only Aston Martin sponsorship, but also Honda will be leaving as their engine partner at the end of the season. Red Bull have recently announced that they will continue the project inhouse having bought the rights from the Japanese manufacture.
Max Verstappen once again spearheads the Austrian outfit, but will have a third different teammate in as many years. The team have looked outside of their academy following unsuccessful stints with Pierre Gasly and Alexander Albon, and have signed Sergio Pérez following his stellar 2020. The Mexican originally was out of a seat after having his 2021 contract with Racing Point (now Aston Martin) cancelled. As a result of Sergio moving to red Bull, Alexander Albon has been demoted to reserve driver and will take part in the DTM Championship when not on F1 duty.
McLaren (GBR) – #3: Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) & #4: Lando Norris (GBR)
The Woking team will switch from Renault to Mercedes engines this season, returning to the manufacturer that last powered the team in 2014. As a result of the change, McLaren had to receive dispensation to have more development allowance so that the new engine could fit in the car.
For their line-up, McLaren secured the services of Daniel Ricciardo after a two-year stint at Renault, he replaces Carlos Sainz Jr., who moved across to Ferrari. Lando Norris remains for a third season.
Aston Martin (GBR) – #5: Sebastian Vettel (GER) & #18: Lance Stroll (CAN)
After putting the copygate scandal behind them, Racing Point had a terrific 2020, though will still feel disappointed to miss out on P3 in the Constructor’s. The team managed to take a pole with Lance Stroll in Turkey whilst Sergio Pérez won an eventful Sakhir GP. This year, the team has a new name, colour scheme and driver.
Having brought out Sergio’s contract, the team acquired the services of Sebastian Vettel, who was deemed surplus to requirements at Ferrari. The 4-time World Champion had a dismal 2020 with a solitary podium in Turkey, so will be hoping a fresh team will return him to glory. With Lawrence Stroll owning the team, it is no surprise that his son, Lance, stays on board. The Silverstone-based outfit also brings back the iconic Aston Martin name as a team entity for the first time since 1960, bearing a striking racing green and pink livery.
Alpine (FRA) – #14: Fernando Alonso (ESP) & #31: Esteban Ocon (FRA)
New team, who dis? Not quite, Renault decided to push their luxury branch, Alpine, into F1 as part of a marketing strategy. Gone is the yellow and black colour scheme that at least brought some variety to the grid, but the chrome blue is a decent effort. The team has also ditched Cyril Abiteboul and the team boss role as a whole, so it will be interesting to see how Marcin Budkowski and former Suzuki MotoGP boss, Davide Brivio, steer the French marquee.
Esteban Ocon stays with the team after a solid, if not unspectacular return from his sabbatical, yet he did achieve Renault’s best result last season. With Ricciardo departing, a familiar name returns to the team. Two-time Champion Fernando Alonso (famously a rookie) may be a divisive figure amongst fans, yet his experience will be essential for Alpine to fight the teams around them. However, the Spaniard is coming off the back of two years out of F1 and a serious cycling crash in February, so may have some cobwebs to claw through.
Ferrari (ITA) – #16: Charles Leclerc (MCO) & #55: Carlos Sainz Jr. (ESP)
Not much to add to the discussion on Ferrari’s 2020, so here’s what to expect in 2021. The Scuderia has a new engine that has clawed back most of the performance lost last year, and also brings in a fresh new face in Carlos Sainz. The Spanish driver was announced well before 2020 even started, may have been regretting that move at the start of last season but there were signs that the spark is still there at Ferrari.
For his quality, there were far too many mistakes from the number 16 car in 2020. Yet even in such a testing year, Charles Leclerc had some standout performances in 2020, notably his 3rd and 4th place finishes at the Silverstone double header. This will be the Monegasque’s 4th in year in F1, and will have a motivated and consistent Spaniard to propel the team back to winning ways.
AlphaTauri (ITA) – #10: Pierre Gasly (FRA) & #22: Yuki Tsunoda (JPN) (Rookie)
One of 2020’s iconic F1 moments was Pierre Gasly’s victory at the Italian Grand Prix for AlphaTauri, coming off the back of a tumultuous 2019 that saw him dropped from Red Bull. The Frenchman dominated Daniil Kvyat last season, and will probably feel aggrieved that his results didn’t see him return to the Austrian team.
Whilst Gasly stays for another year, he has a new teammate in Yuki Tsunoda. The Japanese driver placed 3rd in his rookie F2 season with 4 poles and 3 wins. It may take him a few rounds to feel comfortable in F1, but Yuki could be a serious threat to Gasly’s momentum in 2021. Meanwhile, Kvyat has left the Red Bull family for the second time, finding refuge as Alpine reserve driver.
Alfa Romeo (SUI) – #7: Kimi Räikkönen (FIN) & #99: Antonio Giovinazzi (ITA)
After a testing 2020, the two drivers came out level pegging on points, with Giovinazzi shading the qualifying performances. Both Kimi and Antonio have been retained for a third year with the team, but with a competitive Ferrari academy, this could be a vital year for both drivers.
Haas (USA) – #9: Nikita Mazepin (RUS) (Rookie) & #47: Mick Schumacher (GER) (Rookie)
2020 was Haas’ worst season to date, and it doesn’t appear that 2021 will be much better. Having ditched their experienced line-up in Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean, the ‘American’ team will field two rookies with the aim to nab 1 or 2 points this season, hardly a motivating call for the new recruits.
Schumacher’s promotion to F1 was deserved after winning the F2 title last year, the juries out on Mazepin, who’s already on very thin ice with the team after his misconduct in the winter. The Russian driver will also be competing under a neutral flag following the World Anti-Doping Agency court case, you wouldn’t know it looking at the car.
Williams (GBR) – #6 Nicholas Latifi (CAN) & #63: George Russell (GBR)
2020 had promise for the Grove team but alas, they came away pointless for the first time in the team’s history. There are signs of hope, especially with the investment from Dorilton Capital after purchasing the team from the Williams family last year, that 2021 will be a further step back up the grid. They may not return to the podium heights of 2014 and 2015, but the task facing Williams isn’t going to be solved overnight, and picking up any top 10 finishes this year would be a marked improvement for George and Nicholas.
Will the pecking order change with any of the regulation changes or new driver line-ups? You’ll just have to tune in at the weekend to find out. Part 3 of the F1 2021 Season preview will analyse some of the storylines and questions that could dictate the sport between now and December 12th.
