Formula 1 has extended its contract with the Belgian Grand Prix, but one of the sport's most established races is set to be dropped from the schedule in 2028 and 2030.
The extension starting from next year includes races only in 2026, 2027, 2029 and 2031, F1 said Wednesday. It could start a wider trend of rotating between some European circuits year by year.
F1’s push in recent years to expand the schedule with more races in the United States and Asia has meant more competition for traditional venues in Europe seeking to keep their places on the calendar.
The Spa-Francorchamps circuit, a favorite with many drivers for its flowing high-speed layout through forested hills, was on the F1 schedule for the first championship season in 1950 and has been on the calendar every year since 2007.
“The Belgian Grand Prix was one of the races that made up our maiden Championship in 1950, so as we kick off our 75th anniversary year it is fitting that we can share the news of this important extension," F1 president and chief executive Stefano Domenicali said in a statement.
"Spa-Francorchamps is rightly lauded by drivers and fans alike as one of the finest racetracks in the world and it has played host to some incredible moments over its many seasons in Formula 1."
Spa-Francorchamps isn't the only historic European circuit which may stop being a yearly destination for F1.
F1 hosts two races a year in Italy at Monza and Imola but the long-term future for Imola is unclear. The deal for Spain's Circuit de Catalunya expires next year, when a new street race arrives in the Spanish capital, Madrid.
F1 hasn't said who might host in the years when Belgium is off the calendar. Rotating between venues could be a way to return to some markets without committing to an annual event.
F1 hasn't raced in Germany since 2020 but has a history of rotating between two circuits there. The last race in Turkey was in 2021 and the most recent French GP was in 2022.
Without a Belgian Grand Prix in 2028, there won't be a home race for F1 champion Max Verstappen, who was born in Belgium but races under the Netherlands flag. The Dutch GP will drop off the F1 schedule after the 2026 race after the promoter decided last month not to continue.
Recent races at Spa-Francorchamps have seen large numbers of Verstappen fans in the stands wearing orange to represent the Netherlands. F1's statement Wednesday highlighted the track's “significant investment” to increase capacity by 10,000 with two new grandstands.
This year's Belgian Grand Prix race weekend is from July 25 through 27, including a sprint race.
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FILE - Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany steers his car during the second free practice at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, Belgium, on Aug. 21, 2015. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI informant who fabricated a story about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter accepting bribes that became central to Republicans’ impeachment effort was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison.
Alexander Smirnovpleaded guilty last month in Los Angeles federal court to tax evasion and lying to the FBI about the phony bribery scheme in what prosecutors say was an effort to influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
Smirnov, a dual U.S. and Israeli citizen, falsely claimed to his FBI handler that executives from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma had paid then-Vice President Biden and his son $5 million each around 2015.
Smirnov's explosive claim in 2020 came after he expressed "bias” about Joe Biden as a presidential candidate, according to prosecutors. In reality, investigators found Smirnov had only routine business dealings with Burisma starting in 2017 — after Biden's term as vice president.
Prosecutors noted that Smirnov's false claim “set off a firestorm in Congress” when it resurfaced years later as part of the House impeachment inquiry into President Biden, a Democrat who defeated Republican then-President Donald Trump in 2020. The Biden administration dismissed the House impeachment effort as a “stunt.”
Before Smirnov’s arrest, Republicans had demanded the FBI release the unredacted form documenting the unverified allegations, though they acknowledged they couldn’t confirm if they were true.
"In committing his crimes he betrayed the United States, a country that showed him nothing but generosity, including conferring on him the greatest honor it can bestow, citizenship," Justice Department special counsel David Weiss' team wrote in court papers. "He repaid the trust the United States placed in him to be a law-abiding naturalized citizen and, more specifically, that one of its premier law enforcement agencies placed in him to tell the truth as a confidential human source, by attempting to interfere in a Presidential election."
Smirnov will get credit for the time he has served behind bars since his arrest last February in the case accusing him of lying to the FBI. Prosecutors in November brought new tax charges alleging he concealed millions of dollars of income he earned between 2020 and 2022.
Smirnov's lawyers had sought no more than four years behind bars, noting the “substantial assistance" he provided to the U.S. government as an FBI informant for more than a decade. Smirnov's lawyers noted in court papers that he suffers from serious health issues related to his eyes and argue that a lengthy sentence would “unnecessarily prolong his suffering.”
“Mr. Smirnov has learned a very grave lesson and proffers to this Honorable Court that he will not find himself on this side of the law again,” attorneys Richard Schonfeld and David Chesnoff told the judge in court papers.
Smirnov was prosecuted by Weiss, who also brought gun and tax charges against Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden was supposed to be sentenced in December after being convicted at a trial in the gun case and pleading guilty to tax charges. But he was pardoned by his father, who said he believed “raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.”
In seeking a lighter sentence, Smirnov's lawyers wrote in court papers that both Hunter Biden and President-elect Trump — who was charged in two federal cases by a different special counsel — “have walked free and clear of any meaningful punishment.”
Special counsel Jack Smith abandoned the two federal cases against Trump — accusing him of conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss and hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida — after Trump's presidential victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in November.
Follow the AP's coverage of Hunter Biden at https://apnews.com/hub/hunter-biden.
FILE - In this courtroom sketch Defendant Alexander Smirnov speaks in Federal court in Los Angeles, Feb. 26, 2024. (William T. Robles via AP, File)
