Provisional calendar for the 2016 F1 season revealed

A 21-race provisional calendar for the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship was approved by the World Motor Sport Council of the governing body - the FIA - at its meeting in Mexico City on Friday. A starting date in April, rescheduling of the Russian, Malaysian and British Grands Prix and the addition of Azerbaijan's capital city Baku as an F1 venue were the major changes along with multiple back-to-back races.

As had been expected, the Indian Grand Prix was not featured on the F1 calendar as negotiations are still ongoing to both reduce the bureaucratic red tape in running the event as well as make the event more financially viable for the Jaypee Group, which is the parent company of the Buddh International Circuit.

The F1 season will start next year with the Australian Grand Prix on April 3 and just a week later will head to Shanghai for the Chinese GP. It is one of seven back-to-back race dates that are designed to ease some of the logistical burden on teams. Case in point; the United States GP in Austin, Texas being followed a week later by the Mexican GP.

Provisional 2016 F1 calendar (as posted on the official FIA website)

April 3: Australia

April 10: China

April 24: Bahrain

May 1: Sochi

May 15: Spain

May 29: Monaco

June 12: Canada

June 26: UK

July 3: Austria

July 17: Baku

July 31: Germany

August 7: Hungary

August 28: Belgium

September 4: Italy

September 18: Singapore

September 25: Malaysia

October 9: Japan

October 23: USA (Austin)

October 30: Mexico

November 13: Brazil

November 27: Abu Dhabi