Formula 1 is gearing up for its biggest-ever season, with a record-breaking 24 races set to feature throughout 2024.

That will take the travelling circus from Bahrain to Abu Dhabi, with stops on every continent barring Antarctica and Africa – the latter a work in progress.

Of those 24 races, all but two have their futures confirmed for at least the short term.

Australia’s future is locked away until 2037, the longest of all current deals.

However, those in charge of events in Suzuka and Silverstone, two of the sport’s most iconic venues, will find themselves at the negotiating table shortly.

With demand for the sport soaring, Liberty Media will be looking to do two things as it negotiates.

On the one hand, it wants to lock away key events for the long term, as it has done with Australia, Bahrain, Hungary, and others.

For those where the chance of a sharp rise in income from the promoter is low, it makes sense to lock them in and secure a steady income stream throughout those years.

At other events, F1 can afford to play a shorter game, chasing higher sanctioning fees in the knowledge the ongoing viability of the event is uncertain.

The Dutch Grand Prix is a prime example, with its current deal running only until 2025 and its viability directly linked to Max Verstappen.

Similarly, Belgium remains on the calendar until the same time, but its financial future is muddied so it does not make sense to ink a long-term agreement there.

Meanwhile, the likes of the British Grand Prix, which has been on the calendar every year the world championship has been held (though as part of the broader European Grand Prix in its inaugural running), will fall somewhere in the middle.

Formula 1, as a business, is motivated to add more races as, by doing so, it is a reasonably simple way of increasing revenue.

However, there are limits on the number of races allowed with the human toll becoming an increasing factor in a championship 50 percent longer than it was just two decades ago.

Much of that increase has come in the Middle East, with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia starting the year before events in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Abu Dhabi close it.

However, while highly profitable events, F1 has often been criticised for racing in those countries.

In Saudi Arabia, a missile strike near the venue in 2022 saw the sport on high alert, alongside questions surrounding human rights issues within the region.

All the while, the sport’s European heartland has seen less racing, with Germany and France having been last run in 2019 and 2022 respectively – the latter having been absent for a decade prior to 2018.

Additions in the United States are also atypical, with F1 itself promoting the Las Vegas Grand Prix, and being involved too with the running alongside a local promoter.

F1 event contracts