Carmelo Ezpeleta, and his Dorna troops responsible for promoting the Grands Prix, will also have a lot to play in this 2023 season which will definitely be one of all hopes and all dangers. Because it's about reviving interest, and therefore increasing popularity, in an era where offering the best spectacle of motor sports on the track is no longer enough to achieve its objectives and convince. A new meeting format has been put in place while on the calendar, this time we really want to stick to the peak of 21 races. This should have already been the case last year, but Finland failed. On this missed meeting but also on the one who will replace him, the Spaniard gives his feelings while specifying the imperatives of his charge...
And this task is first of all to develop the calendar for a season which must come into conflict as little as possible with a Formula 1 who wins this audiovisual duel every time, as in the stands. The case of Mugello in 2022, taking place at the same time as the famous Monaco Grand Prix, will have served, in this respect, as a lesson. A disappointment in ticketing and audience figures which was noticed and reported, since Carmelo Ezpeleta comments: “ we have to be attentive to the many teams and drivers of the Italian Grand Prix. With Ducati and Aprilia we have two Italian MotoGP factories on the ground which will equip twelve of the 22 riders in 2023 ».
A remark which indicates that developing an annual plan for your paddock is clearly a political and economic strategy: “ Formula 1 and MotoGP events must not take place simultaneously in the same part of the world. it is not an easy task » says Carmelo Ezpeleta on speedweek. " There will soon be 24 races in Formula 1. So the number of weekends available for Dorna is getting smaller and smaller. ».
Carmelo Ezpeleta: “ we can't afford to be away from the world of motorsport for as long as five weeks«
A situation which explains what appears at first glance to be an unbalanced calendar, but which is in fact a set of dates that the Formula 1 left free, so to speak: “ there are three F1 races in a row in May. We therefore had to move the Mugello Grand Prix to the first weekend of June. And the Catalan Grand Prix in September ". A balancing act which will become more and more delicate to assume since Dorna's boss reminds us: “ in our agreements with the teams, a maximum of 22 Grands Prix are agreed. We must extend and extend the season. Because interest in MotoGP has increased significantly. Saudi Arabia also wants a motorcycle GP ».
Certainly, but is it because the Kazakhstan marked his interest in MotoGP to such an extent that we see him appear for the first time in a motorcycle Grand Prix season? Not really… In this case, the imperative was elsewhere: “ we were asked why we were going to Kazakhstan. The explanation is this: there are no other organizers who have accepted a Grand Prix date in July. If we had done without the Sokol circuit, there would have been a five-week summer break like in 2022 when the Finnish Grand Prix was canceled. We cannot afford to be absent from the world of motorsport for so long ».
And on this Finnish Grand Prix stillborn, Carmelo Ezpeleta revealed : " I never really understood why a Grand Prix was planned there ". The ongoing legal proceedings to recover the money invested will perhaps make it possible to find out one day.
