The Chinese Grand Prix will not take place in 2023 given the “ongoing difficulties stemming from Covid-19 situation,” Formula 1 says in a tweet.
Formula 1 is assessing alternative options to replace the slot on the 2023 calendar and will provide an update in due course, the organization said in a statement available on its website on Friday.
The Covid-19 situation in China remains difficult even though Beijing is starting to allow some virus-infected people to isolate at home, starting with residents of the city’s most-populous district. It’s a landmark shift that reflects the pressure officials are under from a record outbreak and public opposition to the Covid Zero policy.
Protests against Covid restrictions have spread across China, with citizens taking to the streets and university campuses, venting their anger and frustrations on local officials and the Communist Party.
The 24-race Formula 1 calendar for 2023 that was announced in September 20 included a Grand Prix in China for April. The cancellation will mark the fourth season China has missed a race, after hosting in Shanghai in April, 2019.
Other Asian locations where Covid-19 is under control have been able to go back to Formula 1 races. A record 302,000 people attended Singapore’s first Formula 1 car race in three years on Oct. 2, which was a triumphant moment for the Southeast Asian city-state as it reopened after the pandemic. Another race was held a week later in Suzuka, Japan, after two years of Covid-related cancellations
(Bloomberg)
In this Sunday, April 14, 2019, file photo, drivers prepare for the start of the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai. (AP)
