Formula One releases new draft calendar: 23 races to happen in 2021

That means a return for long-established races such as China, Japan and Canada, which had to be cancelled because of the disruptions to worldwide travel caused by Covid-19, as well as the debut of the Vietnamese Grand Prix.

The draft plan was presented to the teams at a meeting of the F1 Commission on Monday that included FIA president Jean Todt, outgoing F1 CEO Chase Carey and replacement Stefano Domenicali, along with representatives from all the teams.

Formula 1 has presented a record 23-race calendar for 2021 to the teams, that includes a debut for Saudi Arabia, GPFans has learned. The European F1 campaign will start in Spain in May.

The Dutch Grand Prix, which had been due to return to the schedule for the first time since 1985 in April this year, is expected to be moved to the late summer and could be twinned with the Belgian race at Spa.

As usual, the season will end with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December.

The calendar then switches to Europe, with Barcelona hosting its round in early May, followed by F1's blue riband event in Monaco, the Canadian and Azerbaijan GPs, along with further races in France, Britain, Austria and Hungary, the latter on August 1 ahead of the summer break.

That warning has apparently fallen on deaf ears as a grueling Singapore-Russia-Japan triple-header has been earmarked for 2021, although dates have yet to be confirmed.

There are two tripleheaders in the second half of the season: Italy/Belgium/Netherlands and Singapore/Japan/Russia.

The race is set to mark a first move into Saudi Arabia for F1 amid plans to construct a new circuit in Qiddiya on the outskirts of Riyadh in the future.

The Brazilian Grand Prix is set to move to Rio de Janeiro for 2021, although the race is now subject to pressure from environmental groups over the plans to build the circuit.

Despite concerns about the viability of some events due to the uncertain nature of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, F1 has not officially informed teams of any potential back-up races as it hopes to stick to the planned schedule.

Despite Australia's closed borders and current travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the country is banking on an improved sanitary situation down the road as Melbourne is set to kick off the season, as usual, on March 21.