Previously confirmed Mexico already added to next season's schedule
Wednesday 3 December 2014 19:33, UK
Formula 1 could be set for a record 21-race season in 2015 after the Korean GP was unexpectedly provisionally reinstated on the schedule for next year.
The World Motor Sport Council, which met for the final time this year in Doha on Wednesday to rubber stamp a number of changes for next season and beyond, had in September ratified a 20-race calendar for 2015 with Mexico the sole addition to this year’s 19-round schedule.
However, next year’s calendar has now provisionally expanded to 21 races with South Korea back on the list after a season’s absence. Korea had previously staged their races, from 2010 to 2013, in October but they have been given a provisional berth for next season of May 3 – just a week before the traditional start of the European season in Spain.
At first glance, the one-week gap between the event in Asia and the race at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya is likely to create logistical concerns for the teams. Should the Korean GP go ahead it would also scupper Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg's recently-announced plans to compete in the Spa round of the World Endurance Championship, which takes place on the same weekend.
Korea fell off the calendar after the 2013 race amid financial problems at the remote Yeongam venue and had been thought unlikely to make a return anytime soon.
The country's surprise inclusion has coincided with a shift of dates over the opening flyaway rounds of the season, although Australia remains as the season-opener on March 15.
The Malaysian GP had originally been scheduled to run back-to-back with China, but the Sepang event will now stand alone in the schedule. China and Bahrain have switched places on the calendar, with the Shanghai round now first up on April 12 and Sakhir to follow seven days later. While the Korean GP has been inserted into what was a three-week gap between the flyaways and Spain, the remainder of the calendar remains unchanged from the previous WMSC announcement.
That means that, for the second successive year, Abu Dhabi has the honour of staging the season finale, although the FIA also confirmed on Wednesday that the final race of 2015 will not feature the contentious double points system which won so little favour this year.
An F1 season has only once stretched beyond 19 races, the 2012 campaign having contained what currently stands as a record 20 grands prix.
2015 F1 calendar
March 15 Australian GP
March 29 Malaysian GP
April 12 Chinese GP
April 19 Bahrain GP
May 3 Korean GP (TBC)
May 10 Spanish GP
May 24 Monaco GP
June 7 Canadian GP
June 21 Austrian GP
July 5 British GP
July 19 German GP
July 26 Hungarian GP
August 23 Belgian GP
September 6 Italian GP
September 20 Singapore GP
September 27 Japanese GP
October 11 Russian GP
October 25 USA GP
November 1 Mexican GP
November 15 Brazilian GP
November 29 Abu Dhabi GP