In 2023, motor racing fans in Catalonia –and those from the rest of Spain and Europe who come to Montmeló– will have to change their habits and dates in their agendas to attend the Catalan Formula 1 and MotoGP races. This is how the crossed calendars of the two provisional world championships that have been leaked have wanted it.
Even without the official stamp of Dorna Sports and Liberty Media, and of the respective world federations, the new dates do not end up displeasing the managers of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, who already take them into account: the Catalunya Grand Prix of MotoGP moves from June to September, and the great F-1 circus is delayed two more weeks on the last date, from May to June.
The reason? The tectonic movement caused by the reconfiguration of the Formula 1 calendar with the return of the Chinese GP (scheduled for April 16), the transfer of Azerbaijan (from June to April 30) and the immobility of Miami (May 7), Imola (May 21) and Monaco (May 28). So the Spanish GP 2023 at the Circuit is delayed to the first weekend of June (2nd to 4th): from being the 6th to the 9th race.
This movement has caused the MotoGP Catalan GP to also have to be moved, since if it had maintained its usual dates since 1999 (first or second week of June), the F-1 and motorcycle races would have been in consecutive weeks . "In the event that they were definitive dates, they would be good for the Circuit, since the priority was to be able to move away from the two grand prizes as much as possible and not repeat this year's situation," sources from the Vallesan facility told this newspaper. This year they have had to face the difficulty of organizing the two main events separated only by a week off, the F-1 GP on May 22, and the MotoGP on June 5.
However, the transfer of the dates of the two grand prix raises some uncertainties, especially that of MotoGP to September, a month from which the Circuit fled both in F-1 (its first race, in 1991, was under a deluge) as in motorcycles (from 1994 to 1998 it was held on dates in October and September).
On the one hand, there is the weather, more unstable in September in Vallès, with sudden storms, as was experienced in some first editions. On the other, the economic aspect, with the pockets of the most emaciated fans after the holidays, and in a few days in which part of the population is still spending the summer.
The provisional 2023 MotoGP calendar, advanced by Speedweek, foresees 21 GPs, starting in Portugal (March 26) and ending in Valencia (November 19). The four Spanish races are maintained, with Jerez on April 30, Aragón on May 28 and Catalunya on September 3, although the Circuit would prefer a few weeks later. The novelty is a GP in Kazakhstan (to be confirmed).
The F-1 of 2023 would have, according to a first provisional calendar, a record number of 24 races with the entry of Las Vegas and the return of Qatar and China, and the exit of France.
