French GP retained, but no trip back to the States

The provisional F1 calendar for 2009 has just been released, with some interesting twists. There will be no U.S. Grand Prix next year, even though the bosses of the Indy Speedway were willing to stage it after this year’s hiatus. However, the French GP, thought to be under threat, receives a stay of execution for one more year - or at least until Bernie Ecclestone gets his wish (he usually does) and dull Magny-Cours is replaced by a shiny new street circuit in Paris.

The calendar features one more race than in 2008 - the Abu Dhabi GP bumps up the schedule to 19 grands prix, including four sets of back-to-back races. That’s a very hectic schedule, but it’s all good news for F1 fans.

See the full schedule below:

2009 F1 calendar

March 29 Australia
April 5 Malaysia
April 19 Bahrain
May 10 Spain
May 24 Monaco
June 7 Canada
June 21 Great Britain
June 28 France
July 12 Germany
July 26 Hungary
Aug 9 Turkey
Aug 23 Europe (Valencia)
Sept 6 Italy
Sept 13 Belgium
Sept 27 Singapore
Oct 11 Japan
Oct 18 China
Nov 1 Brazil
Nov 15 Abu Dhabi

It’s a more international calendar than ever before. And how will teams cope with the pressure of so many back-to-back races? We can’t wait to find out.