Nürburgring, Portimao and Imola; What is next?

(Image above by Bloomberg/Getty Images)

After a recent announcement confirming all previous rumours that Formula 1 will in fact go to some historic circuits unplanned to the original calendar, it has sparked some questions for what could happen for the rest of this year and years to come.

To start, even the idea of going to Mugello and these three circuits this year is unbelievably exciting as they are all circuits people would love to watch an F1 car go round.

Unfortunately that does bring our first problem. Qualifying will be great at these venues and that is undoubted. The races on the other hand, concern is the first thing that comes to mind.

With Mugello and Portimao having one noticeable overtaking points with Imola not having one, the races might end up being dull for the sacrifice of having some of the greatest qualifying laps we could ever see.

Dirty air has been all too common a theme over the years of the latest generation of car and these tracks would help produce a lot with the high-speed nature of the corners making it difficult for people to get close to each other.

What does this hold for the rest of the calendar?

Now that the rumours we all heard became true, what is coming up on the horizon for the rest of the season?

Currently, the rumours are that after the race at Imola, the teams would be heading east for a double-header of Vietnam and a return to Malaysia at Sepang.

This is all again positive news for Formula 1. Vietnam still getting its debut in 2020 is great news to see the new track even if it is not when it was first scheduled. Then to go Sepang would be just great news. Drivers love the place, fans love the track and it always produces great racing.

The only other news on the horizon is a double-header afterwards in Bahrain on two separate layouts of the circuit before concluding the season at Abu Dhabi.

If this is to be true we would have an 18 round season that would only be four short of the original season length. A great effort would be made to pull this off in such a confined time gap.

Another question all of this picks up is what happens to future calendars? If all these circuits are options for this year why could they not be for future years?

There are definitely circuits on the calendar people do not like and produce poor race weekends. So could we see them being replaced? With the original idea of the Miami GP we know Liberty Media, owners of Formula 1, are happy with scrapping the idea of one venue per country.

If this were to be the case, could calendars of future seasons with the next generation of more race-friendly cars go back to these venues? I certainly hope so as there is no question it would be a spectacle.

The future continues to look brighter and brighter for motorsport as a whole and in particularly Formula 1.