Formula 1 Carbon Footprint Slammed After 2023 Calendar Release

🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.

The 2023 Formula 1 season schedule has been released, and it has caused consternation among racing fans who also have an eye on the green impact of the sport.

The carbon footprint of Formula 1 has been called into question as many are unhappy with the distances involved between certain races, with the teams and drivers going from Europe to Canada and then back to Europe in one example of the slightly haphazard schedule.

There will be 23 Grands Prix this year as F1 bosses have decided to cancel the Chinese Grand Prix again, with no replacement announced as of yet.

Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing will begin defending the title in Bahrain on March 5.

Formula 1
Max Verstappen of the Netherlands prepares to drive on the grid during the F1 Grand Prix of Mexico at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on October 30, 2022. The carbon footprint of Formula 1 has been called... Getty Images

Formula 1 fans have taken to social media to complain about how the environment will be affected by the sport's globetrotting.

There has also been dismay that there will be no races in France or Germany but there are three on the schedule for the United States, with a Miami GP, Las Vegas GP (which will take place at night) and the United States GP itself.

Sharing a graphic of the flights that the F1 teams will take to move from circuit to circuit, Twitter user @lydiahejka wrote: "Formula 1 really said, let's choose the least efficient route possible."

There were some who countered the environmental argument, saying that teams keep equipment in certain countries, so that the whole lot doesn't have to be shipped around the world.

One Formula 1 fan tweeted: "On the flip side they don't use just one set of race equipment for the season, they have multiple sets. They ship those instead of flying them to lower carbon footprint so logistically it'll take longer for them to arrive at each race hence not doing all the USA races back to back.

"And they do manage to keep the bulk of European races in a streak. Italy-Monaco-Spain then Austria-UK-Hungary-Belgium-Netherlands-Italy again.

"For the non euro races you can see how they spread them about a month apart to account for the shipping times."

Here is the 2023 Formula 1 schedule with the race start times in U.S. Eastern Time.

DateGrand PrixUS (ET) race start
March 5Bahrain GP10:00 a.m.
March 19Saudi Arabian GP12:00 p.m.
April 2Australian GP1:00 a.m.
April 30Azerbaijan GP7:00 a.m.
May 7Miami GP3.30 p.m.
May 21Emilia-Romagna GP9:00 a.m.
May 28Monaco GP9:00 a.m.
June 4Spanish GP9:00 a.m.
June 18Canadian GP2:00 p.m.
July 2Austrian GP9:00 a.m.
July 9British GP10:00 a.m.
July 23Hungarian GP9:00 a.m.
July 30Belgian GP9:00 a.m.
August 27Dutch GP9:00 a.m.
September 3Italian GP9:00 a.m.
September 17Singapore GP8:00 a.m.
September 24Japanese GP1:00 a.m.
October 8Qatar GP10:00 a.m.
October 22United States GP3:00 p.m.
October 29Mexican GP3:00 p.m.
November 5Brazilian GP1:00 a.m.
November 18Las Vegas GP10:00 p.m.
November 26Abu Dhabi GP8:00 a.m.

Do you have a tip on a sports story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about Formula 1? Let us know via entertainment@newsweek.com.

About the writer