Portugal leading the way to replace cancelled Chinese Grand Prix

Portugal appears to be leading the race to replace next April’s Chinese Grand Prix, which has now been officially cancelled.

Formula One released a statement on Friday morning saying that "ongoing difficulties" with Covid had forced it to pull the Shanghai race, which had been due to return for the first time since 2019.

The news had long been anticipated, with civil unrest in China over its 'zero Covid' policies, which include regular lockdowns and forced isolation imposed on infected people and contacts.

Formula One is unwilling to risk personnel being locked down in China or forced to stay in the country beyond the end of the race.

China’s slot on April 16 – the fourth race of what has been billed as a record-breaking 24-race season – is not certain to be filled. In fact, until recently it looked more likely that the slot would be left vacant and the season reduced to 23 races. One of the difficulties being that F1’s freight will be in Australia on April 2 and then in Azerbaijan on April 30.

That said, there are a number of options. Portimao in the Algarve currently appears the most likely stand-in. It has filled in more than once in the recent past, hosting grands prix in in 2020 and 2021 when F1 shuffled its schedule as a result of the pandemic, and it is thought to have the funds to host another race.

Istanbul Park in Turkey, another track that returned during the pandemic, could be another option, while the French Grand Prix only recently dropped off the schedule. The Nurburgring has also been mentioned in despatches.

The sport would only confirm that it was in talks with a number of parties, adding that it was unlikely to be able to confirm the outcome of those talks until the new year.

Friday’s statement read: "Formula 1 is assessing alternative options to replace the slot on the 2023 calendar and will provide an update on this in due course."