Back To The Future For F1 2020 As Old Venues Return

F1 has made official what had been reported over the last two days; three more venues will be added to the 2020 season calendar with the addition of the Nurburgring, Portimao and Imola.

The German venue of Nurburgring will host the eleventh round of the season from October 9 to 11 after Hockenheim was ruled out as a possible venue. Portugal’s Portimao and Italy’s Imola will host the 12th and 13th rounds of the championship on October 23-25 and October 31-November 1, respectively. 

F1 has also given up its plans to host any rounds in North or South America, which means that this year’s championship will not feature the Canadian, United States, Mexican and Brazilian Grands Prix. 

Local publications in China had reported that the Chinese Grand Prix is likely to be formally cancelled as well. That means that the F1 season is likely to feature fifteen rounds this season as the Bahrain and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix are expected to be added to the calendar. 

F1 had set out with the aim to hold 15 to 18 rounds this season, which was halted just before the first free practice session in the Australian Grand Prix in March, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Nurburgring Grand Prix Circuit - different from the mighty Nordschliefe - has hosted 18 rounds of the F1 world championship since 1984. Four of those rounds have been the German Grand Prix, two were the Luxembourg GP and the rest were the European GP. 

The Algarve International Circuit in Portimao, Portugal has never held a round of the F1 championship prior to 2020 but F1 teams have tested on the 19-turn, 4.692km circuit before. 

Last, but not least, Imola! The Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, situated 40km east of Bologna, hosted one of the classic F1 races, the San Marino Grand Prix 26 times from 1981 to 2006. It debuted on the F1 calendar as the venue for the Italian Grand Prix in 1980. To many F1 fans, the circuit, holds an unpleasant memory. Roland Ratzenburger and Ayrton Senna’s fatal accidents occurred during the weekend of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. Their deaths led to sweeping safety regulations in F1 that fundamentally changed the design of F1 cars. 

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It is also known for the 1982 San Marino GP when Ferrari teammates Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi became sworn enemies after Pironi defied team orders to win. The 2005 edition is also well remembered when a young Fernando Alonso held off a charging Michael Schumacher who made a late race attempt to steal a win from the Spaniard. In the last San Marino GP before the venue left the F1 calendar, Schumacher returned the favour to Alonso in 2006