» As expected, Korea dumped for 2015

The notional Korean Grand Prix has been dropped from the 2015 Formula 1 Championship calendar, the FIA World Motor Sport Council has confirmed. The 2015 season will run for twenty races – starting in Australia in March and ending in Abu Dhabi in November – up from the nineteen in 2014 thanks to the return of the Mexican Grand Prix.

The little-loved Grand Prix in Korea was a surprise last-minute addition to an updated 2015 calendar after a meeting of the WMSC last month. The Yeongyam venue – which held four Grands Prix between 2010 and 2013 – had its event slated for a May 3 date as a fifth race in the opening run of ‘flyaway’ races, one week prior to the Spanish Grand Prix, the opening race of the European leg of the season.

Doubts were immediately raised as to whether the event would ever occur, and this week’s confirmation proves them true.

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone claimed that the race was added onto the updated calendar for “legal reasons”, but that organisers “would rather it not happen”.

“We have a contract with Korea… we have to put it on the calendar. If we hadn’t have done they could have sued us,” he said. “We let them off for a year on the understanding they would be back [in 2015].”

The latest stories suggest that the Korean government is going to give Formula 1 another crack and is seeking approval to stage a street circuit race in its capital, Seoul – potentially a far more lucrative option than the $70 million white elephant in Yeongyam.

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2015 Formula 1 Championship Calendar (Final):

Date	Event	Venue
15 March	Australian Grand Prix	Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne
29 March	Malaysian Grand Prix	Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur
12 April	Chinese Grand Prix	Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai
19 April	Bahrain Grand Prix	Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir
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
01 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