FIA F3 season finale moved from Austin to Sochi

The seventh round was due to take place in Austin from October 22-24 in support of the US Grand Prix, but will now take place a month earlier, from September 24-26, at the Russian Grand Prix.

But organisers said the changes, which "heavily impacted the overall costs of the planned Austin event," meant the series could no longer race there, and the finale will now take place on the same weekend as the sixth round of FIA Formula 2.

Teams were informed of the move over the Dutch Grand Prix weekend.

In a statement, organisers said: "The FIA Formula 3 Championship promoter, Formula 1 and the FIA announce that the final round of the 2021 F3 season will be hosted alongside Formula 1 and Formula 2 in Sochi, Russia, on September 24-26, in lieu of Austin, USA.

"This modification of the calendar has been agreed by all stakeholders following unavoidable logistical changes that heavily impacted the overall costs of the planned Austin event for F3.

"The F3 promoter confirms that there will be three races held for both F2 and F3 over the course of the Sochi event."

FIA Formula 3 CEO Bruno Michel said: “I want to thank F1 and the FIA, our teams and everyone involved, including the Sochi promoters, for agreeing on such short notice to this change. We are pleased to bring our two categories to Russia again, but I am also sorry for not taking F3 to Austin this year, and I’m looking forward to racing there in the future.”

W Series, which is also set to conclude at COTA, says it still intend to race there.