» 2015 F1 calendar finalised

The FIA has ratified the 2015 Formula 1 Championship season calendar draft it issued last week, following a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council.

The only changes to the draft version are a one-week date shift for the Japanese Grand Prix and a swapping of the dates for the series’ visit to the United States and its return – after a 23-year absence – to Mexico.

The final version will not impress any of the team’s bean counters – not to mention the swathe of team members and members of the media who have to travel at considerable expense, both financially and to their personal lives.

No doubt this might serve Formula One Management’s ultimate goal of getting the calendar expanded beyond 20 races in future years.

Singapore and Japan (brought one week earlier) now run as back-to-back events, as is the case with Bahrain-China, Germany-Hungary and USA-Mexico.

The rest – sometimes defying logic and commonsense – are staged as standalone events, with the two-week gap between events such as Australia and Malaysia, presenting a cost headache for all of the teams who either have to pay for an extra week’s accommodation for their team, or foot the airfare to fly them home and then fly them back out to southeast Asia.

In an environment where many of the teams are being vocal about cost containment, the 2015 scheduling exists in blissful ignorance.

2015 Formula 1 Championship Calendar:

Date	Event	Venue
15 March	Australian Grand Prix	Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne
29 March	Malaysian Grand Prix	Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur
05 April	Bahrain Grand Prix	Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir
19 April	Chinese Grand Prix	Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai
10 May	Spanish Grand Prix	Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Barcelona
24 May	Monaco Grand Prix	Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo
07 June	Canadian Grand Prix	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal
21 June	Austrian Grand Prix	Red Bull Ring, Spielberg
05 July	British Grand Prix	Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone
19 July	German Grand Prix	Nürburgring, Nürburg
26 July	Hungarian Grand Prix	Hungaroring, Budapest
23 August	Belgian Grand Prix	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot
06 September	Italian Grand Prix	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Milan
20 September	Singapore Grand Prix	Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore
27 September	Japanese Grand Prix	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka
11 October	Russian Grand Prix	Sochi Autodrom, Sochi
25 October	United States Grand Prix	Circuit of the Americas, Austin
1 November	Mexican Grand Prix	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City
15 November	Brazilian Grand Prix	Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo
29 November	Abu Dhabi Grand Prix	Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi