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F1 Extends China Deal Despite No 2022 Grand Prix

Formula One F1 - Hungarian Grand Prix - Hungaroring, Budapest, Hungary - August 1, 2021 Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton in action. Reuters
Formula One F1 - Hungarian Grand Prix - Hungaroring, Budapest, Hungary - August 1, 2021 Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton in action. Reuters
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F1 Extends China Deal Despite No 2022 Grand Prix

Formula One F1 - Hungarian Grand Prix - Hungaroring, Budapest, Hungary - August 1, 2021 Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton in action. Reuters
Formula One F1 - Hungarian Grand Prix - Hungaroring, Budapest, Hungary - August 1, 2021 Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton in action. Reuters

Formula 1 has extended its contract with the Chinese Grand Prix until 2025, the organization said Saturday, despite the race being dropped from its calendar for next year.

Covid-19 and China's strict travel restrictions prompted the cancellation of the Shanghai event in 2020 and this year. F1 has also not included the race on its 2022 schedule due to "ongoing pandemic conditions".

But that has not stopped it from extending its deal with the world's second-largest economy, which is a major growth market for F1.

"We are very pleased that this new agreement will ensure our fans in China have Formula 1 racing to look forward to in the coming years," F1 said in a statement.

"While we are all disappointed we could not include China on the 2022 calendar ... China will be restored to the calendar as soon as conditions allow and we look forward to being back with the fans as soon as we can," President and CEO Stefano Domenicali said.

F1 last month released a record 23-race schedule for 2022 that included several events -- such as Australia, Canada, Singapore and Japan -- that were axed this year and in 2020 due to the pandemic and subsequent health restrictions.

The Chinese GP, which has been running since 2004, will be replaced by the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola on April 24.

The 2022 season will start in Bahrain on March 20 and end back in the Gulf at Abu Dhabi on November 20.

F1 is growing in popularity in China but the world's most populous nation still lacks a home star.

But there are high hopes that hotly tipped youngster Zhou Guanyu will make the leap up from Formula 2.

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Sinner Gets Past Rune at Australian Open in Match with Net, Medical Delays

Tennis - Australian Open - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia - January 20, 2025 Italy's Jannik Sinner shakes hands with Denmark's Holger Rune after winning his fourth round match REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas
Tennis - Australian Open - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia - January 20, 2025 Italy's Jannik Sinner shakes hands with Denmark's Holger Rune after winning his fourth round match REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas
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Sinner Gets Past Rune at Australian Open in Match with Net, Medical Delays

Tennis - Australian Open - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia - January 20, 2025 Italy's Jannik Sinner shakes hands with Denmark's Holger Rune after winning his fourth round match REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas
Tennis - Australian Open - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia - January 20, 2025 Italy's Jannik Sinner shakes hands with Denmark's Holger Rune after winning his fourth round match REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas

First came the medical timeouts, one each for Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune with the temperature above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) at the Australian Open. Then came the unusual sight of a 20-minute delay because the net at Rod Laver Arena detached from the court after being hit by a big Sinner serve.
In the end, Sinner put his physical struggles aside and emerged with the victory — as he keeps doing, no matter the site or the circumstances — and the defending champion moved into the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park on Monday by eliminating the 13th-seeded Rune 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
The No. 1-ranked Sinner occasionally tried to cool off by pressing a cold towel to his face or pouring water down the back of his neck, The Associated Press reported. He was far better down the stretch, both after a 10-minute-plus delay in the third set when he went to the locker room for medical attention and after a 20-minute holdup in the fourth when the screw connecting the net to the blue playing surface came undone.
“I knew in my mind ... I would struggle today,” Sinner said during his on-court interview, without saying what was wrong. "Me and the doctor, we talked a little bit. It helped me."
He has won 18 consecutive tour-level matches, dating to late 2024. Last season, Sinner went 73-6 with eight titles, the first man with that many tournament championships in a single year since Andy Murray in 2016.
That haul included Sinner’s first two Grand Slam trophies, at the Australian Open in January and the US Open in September, the latter shortly after he was exonerated for testing positive for an anabolic steroid twice in March. His case is still unresolved, though, with a hearing scheduled for April in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s appeal of the ruling.
Rune, a 21-year-old from Denmark, was trying to get to the quarterfinals in Melbourne for the first time.
Sinner will face No. 8 Alex de Minaur of Australia or unseeded Alex Michelsen of the US for a berth in the semifinals. A second Italian joined Sinner in the quarterfinals when 55th-ranked Lorenzo Sonego got that far at a major tournament for the first time by ending the run of American qualifier Learner Tien 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. Sonego will now face No. 21 Ben Shelton of the U.S. or Gael Monfils of France.