MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/. Formula One racing, which is the pinnacle of world’s motorsport, presented a draft calendar for the 2020 F1 World Championship scheduling the Russia Grand Prix in Sochi for September 27, F1 press office announced in a statement on Thursday.

Next year’s championship will be the first in the history of Formula One to run in 22 Grands Prix around the globe, opening with the race in Australia on March 15 and closing with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

"For the first time ever, the Formula 1 calendar will comprise 22 Grands Prix. Ten events will be held in Europe, seven in Asia, four in the Americas and one in Australia," the statement reads. "As already announced, Melbourne gets the seventieth season underway on 15th March and, as usual, it will end on 29th November with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit."

The 2020 F1 World Championship will also see a debut of the Grand Prix in Vietnam’s Hanoi and the return of the Dutch Grand Prix, which had been absent from the race calendar since 1985.

"A new country makes its debut as a host nation in 2020 with Vietnam becoming the 34th country to stage a round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, with a race in the capital Hanoi on 5th April," according to the statement. "A famous name from the past returns in the shape of the Zandvoort circuit, which will be the venue for the Dutch Grand Prix on 3rd May."

Commenting on the calendar, Formula One Chairman and CEO Chase Carey said: "It’s the year in which the series that is the pinnacle of motorsport celebrates its seventieth anniversary with, for the first time, a 22 race calendar. It is significant for our sport and confirms our long-term strategy."

The draft calendar is yet to be officially formalized by the International Automobile Federation (FIA) and will be submitted for approval during the FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting on October 4.

"The season with a record 22 Grands Prix has received unanimous support from the FIA and all the teams and clearly demonstrates the confidence that exists in the future of our sport, which with over 500 million fans remains one of the most followed and popular in the world," Carey added.

F1 Russia GP in Sochi

Sochi Autodrom track is the only racing circuit in Russia hosting a FIA Formula One Grand Prix. Located in the Olympic Park, which hosted the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, the 5,848-meter long racing circuit in the Black Sea coastal area has already successfully hosted five F1 Grand Prix races.

The contract to include Russia in the calendar of F1 racing for the 2014-2020 period was signed in 2010 in Sochi by then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and former Formula One chief executive Bernie Ecclestone. In early 2017, the contract to hold F1 racing in Russia’s Sochi was extended until 2025.

In late 2014, the Sochi Autodrom was awarded the trophy of Formula One’s best racing track of the year. The Race Promoters' Trophy is a rotating award, engraved with the names of other top F1 tracks dating from 1975.