F1 aims for July 5 start to 2020 season at Austrian Grand Prix

Formula 1 CEO Chase Carey issued a statement on its official website that the planned start of the season will be the Austrian Grand Prix on the 3-5 July weekend. The venue will be the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.

The season was originally scheduled for 22 race weekends, starting with the Australian GP in March. The event was cancelled just before the opening free practice session after a McLaren F1 team member tested positive for COVID-19.

The plan of action

F1 is now targeting a 15-18 race season that will be held in Europe from July to August before moving on to Eurasian and Asian venues in September to October.

After that will be races held in Asian plus American countries from October to November before concluding in West Asia in December. Carey said a final calendar would be published based on the feasibility of this plan.

The likelihood of this plan being successful is contingent on which countries will be safe to run races in on account of the global coronavirus pandemic.

The countries that have controlled the spread of the virus and where social distancing by essential F1 personnel will be viable venues.

How It Would Work 

A scenario in which races will be held at the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone on consecutive weekends, with mid-week races, had been discussed by management at both circuits a week ago.

Mid-week races were mooted in order to fit as many races through a week as possible in order to reach that target of 15 to 18 races. That scenario looks increasingly likely with the organizers of the French Grand Prix confirming the cancellation of the event, thus removing one more possible venue over which races can be spread.

The managing director of the Silverstone circuit also issued a statement today announcing that any race held at the venue would be a behind-closed-doors event, without spectators. That would be on account of Great Britain being one of the worst affected countries by the coronavirus.

The planned start of the season at the Red Bull Ring will also be behind closed doors and this is expected to be the modus operandi for any venue it goes to this year.

So far, Great Britain has the sixth highest number of cases of COVID-19 with 152,840 and 20,732 casualties. Austria, where the Red Bull Ring is located, has had 15,274 cases so far and 549 casualties. 

The Bare Minimum

Ross Brawn, F1's managing director of motorsport and its technical director, had earlier stated that eight races are the minimum requirement for an F1 season to be held.

A week ago, Claire Williams – head of Williams Racing – had told Sky Sports News that racing in 2020 was critical to its survival and that of the other independent teams on the grid.

In order to reduce the financial burden on teams, F1 had agreed to push back the introduction of its sweeping new technical regulations from 2021 to 2022. The $175 million budget cap that was to be a part of the 2021 regulations will remain in place for next year, though.

Teams will use the same chassis as 2020 with some restrictions placed on aerodynamic development and due to the season going as far deep as December, scrapping pre-season testing for 2021 has been mooted too.