FIA confirms 21-race calendar for 2016

PARIS — The 2016 Formula One season will feature 21 races, up on the 20 which were staged this season, and will see Azerbaijani capital Baku make its bow on the schedule. The FIA said the season will start again in Australia on March 20 and end in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 27. However, the United States Grand Prix in Austin, penciled in for October, remains a provisional date due to local funding issues while the European Grand Prix in Baku may switch dates to avoid a clash with the Le Mans 24 Hour endurance race running the same June 19 weekend. Officials at the Circuit of the Americas have said they are financially strapped after storms wiped out much of the 2015 race weekend and by news the Texas governor’s office is cutting public funding by about 20 percent. Amongst technical changes, the sport’s tire supplier Pirelli will provide three dry-weather compounds instead of two with the aim of spicing up strategy over a racing weekend. The World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris also approved a mandate for the FIA President, Jean Todt and commercial rights holder, Bernie Ecclestone to make recommendations over governance, engines and cost reduction. All these issues plagued the sport in the 2015 season which ended Sunday. “Mr. Todt and Mr. Ecclestone expressed their intention to establish conclusions on these matters by January 31, 2016,” said a FIA statement. The US GP has been considered a major opportunity for Formula One to surge into a largely untapped market. The private investors who built the track, including hedge fund manager Bobby Epstein and billionaire businessman Red McCombs, said they were promised significant help from the state to pay for the commercial rights to hold the race over a 10-year deal. Under an agreement reached with former Gov. Rick Perry and former Comptroller Susan Combs, Texas gave $25 million from the state’s Major Events Trust fund in the first year. Promoters said they were counting on that money every year. But a 2010 letter from Perry and Combs to Ecclestone notes the state portion could be less than $25 million for the rest of the contract. The letter says that if tax revenues fall short, promoters must make up the difference. Ferrari to supply engines to Toro Rosso Formula One’s governing body has agreed a rule change to allow Ferrari to supply the Toro Rosso team with year-old engines next season. The International Automobile Federation said in a statement Wednesday that power units homologated (approved for use) in previous seasons could now be re-homologated for 2016. Ferrari is already scheduled to supply Sauber and the new US-based Haas team as well as its own works entry. F1 race schedule March 20,    Melbourne, Australia April 3,        Bahrain, Bahrain April 17,     Shanghai, China May 1,        Sochi, Russia May 15,      Barcelona, Spain May 29,      Monte Carlo, Monaco June 12,     Montreal, Canada June 19,     Baku, Azerbaijan July 3,        Spielberg, Austria July 10,      Silverstone, United Kingdom July 24,      Budapest, Hungary July 31,      Hockenheim, Germany Aug 28,      Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium Sept. 4,      Monza, Italy Sept. 18,    Singapore, Singapore Oct. 2,        Sepang, Malaysia Oct. 9,        Suzuka, Japan Oct. 23,      Austin, USA Oct. 30,      Mexico City, Mexico Nov. 13,     Sao Paulo, Brazil Nov. 27,     Abu Dhabi, UAE