FIA confirms 2011 F1 calendar

The list of races for the 2011 Formula One season was released by the FIA overnight. There will be 20 races in all, making next year’s calendar the longest in F1 history. Some of the details revealed in the leak following the Hungarian GP have proved to be off the mark.

Bahrain will again host the season opener (13 March), with the Australian Grand Prix to follow a fortnight later (27 March). The order of events then continues to loosely follow what we’ve seen to date in 2010.

Four back-to-back races have been confirmed: Malaysia–China (April), Spain–Monaco (May), Germany–Hungary (July) and Japan–Korea (October).

There have been 19 races scheduled this year, all maintain their GP status into next year. The new race for 2011 is the inaugural Indian Grand Prix (30 October), it will be the third last race on the calendar. Following that race will be a trip to Abu Dhabi (13 November), before Brazil once again hosts the season finale (27 November).

So, 20 races, hey—is this starting to become a few too many? No in-season testing. Reduced number of engines. Ever-tightened budgets. Yet, more races, meaning more television revenue coming in to the sport. Hmm, is there something not quite right about this?

A full list is available after the break.

2011 Formula One World Championship calendar

13 March – Bahrain
27 March – Australia
10 April – Malaysia
17 April – China
08 May – Turkey
22 May – Spain
29 May – Monaco
12 June – Canada
26 June – Europe
10 July – Great Britain
24 July – Germany
31 July – Hungary
28 August – Belgium
11 September – Italy
25 September – Singapore
09 October – Japan
16 October – Korea
30 October – India*
13 November – Abu Dhabi
27 November – Brazil

* Subject to the homologation of the circuit