Why a "bonkers" end to 2020 will be a good lesson for F1

As Formula 1 enters the home straight of its 2020 season, it's remarkable to think that the series has not only put on a nearly full calendar - but it could also go down as one of its best schedules ever.

After years and years of endless repeats of pretty much the same race tracks, and some new modern autodromes that failed to live up to the hype, how refreshing has it been for everyone to go to some different places that actually delivered.

Mugello and Algarve were great first-timers, while the Nurburgring, Imola and Turkey all showed for different reasons why they all deserve their own spot on the schedule. In fact, it was not really a surprise that Max Verstappen - one of the drivers who will always call a spade a spade - suggested recently that some of 2020's best venues should be accommodated at the expense of the more boring regulars in future calendars.

"I have always said 23 races is quite a lot," said the Red Bull driver. "In fact, things have to be changed if we want to do so many races a year.

"Formula 1 is trying to put everything together now, but you can't keep this up for too long. I would rather we do 20 races and get rid of some grands prix and tracks that are not interesting at all. But there is a clear reason why they make a different decision of course..."

Money does, of course, talk, and the huge holes in Liberty Media's coffers caused by the coronavirus pandemic needs to be partly filled by race hosting fees: so F1's owners cannot afford a repeat of 2020 where just getting venues to hold races was enough.

But as we head to the Bahrain double-header, we could be set for a 'peak 2020' moment, with tremendous intrigue over what we can expect from the second race weekend on the outer loop. The short-track, nicknamed the 'almost oval' by F1 managing director of motorsport Ross Brawn earlier this year, is so left-field that it's hard to believe that F1 had the guts to sign off on it.

The 2.227-mile circuit is unlike anything we've seen in F1 before; and its compact nature, lack of corners, and the likelihood of incidents and cars tripping over each other is likely to create both a buzz and a raft of complaints. After trying it on the simulator, Williams driver George Russell predicted that it would be "bonkers".

"I think it's exciting because the lap times are going to be so close," he explained. "I reckon everybody will probably be within a second in qualifying, which means if you make one small mistake, you can be losing loads of positions on Saturday."

It will be a weekend where teams are going to need to be on the front foot with car positioning to find clear space and drivers are going to need to stay sharp to maximise what opportunities they have. That could throw up a weekend like Turkey, where the ability of drivers on the super low-grip track surface meant that the entire weekend wasn't simply dictated by who had the best car. Talent came to the fore, and that's always a good thing.

Losing a tenth in one corner at Spa may not mean very much, but doing so in Bahrain when there are really only three sequences of bends could be the difference between being dumped out in Q1 and reaching Q3

It appears inevitable that the Bahrain outer loop weekend will be chaotic. With lap times estimated to be around the 55-seconds mark, there is going to be a different rhythm to both practice and the race. It will be significantly harder than normal to find that crucial clear air in qualifying, and come the race one major slip during a tyre change carries the risk of going a lap down. The long straights, and an effective DRS zone, also means that making a clear break will be especially hard.

Being so much shorter than a normal race track, and with a such a large percentage of that made up on straights, that the grid is going to be exceptionally compact in terms of lap times - and tiny mistakes in qualifying could punish drivers particularly hard.

Losing a tenth in one corner at Spa may not mean very much when you have so many more corners to make it up, but doing so in Bahrain when there are really only three sequences of bends could be the difference between being dumped out in Q1 and reaching Q3.

The weekend will take F1 outside of its comfort zone and throw up a track that has all the benefits of the modern circuits - like a great infrastructure and good working conditions for the teams - but without the familiarity of a more traditional circuit layout. And for all the complaints that there will likely be from drivers who get caught out by traffic, or lose out thanks to a bit of frenzied chaos, the fact that F1 is willing to experience something so different should serve as a great blueprint for the future.

Verstappen is right that some of the more regular events on the calendar don't add much to the schedule, and that's something that should be addressed as the calendar increases in future years. The risk of dilution with a 23-race calendar is high and many of the races in the middle of the year could be treated as irrelevant to fans if they don't have their unique selling points as reasons to tune in.

If you think of Monaco, Baku, Singapore, Spa and Monza, each has a completely different track layout and gives you a reason to watch and see how the event stands out in itself. Having repeated venues with near identical types of circuits that offer nothing unique is not the answer for sustained interest.

Just as F1 knew it needed to do something different for the double-header races this year (different tyres for Silverstone 2 and a different layout for Bahrain 2), it should also avoid choosing layouts that are too similar in the future. The Bahrain 'almost oval' should hopefully prove that F1 has no need to be afraid of trying things that are different; nor of running on tracks that some would say are not rooted in the 'proper DNA' of grand prix racing.

But, if Bahrain's second race delivers even half the spectacle and uncertainty that we expect, it will have more than justified itself - and will hopefully encourage F1's chiefs to think outside the box in the future.