Formula 1 confirms first eight races for revised 2020 calendar

Formula 1 has confirmed that 2020 season would restart in early July.

While disclosing this in a statement on Tuesday June 2, 2020, F1 Chief Executive, Chase Carey, announced the first eight races.

Since the coronavirus struck, the racing has been put on hold, and The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) has been working around having the race back.

Carey has therefore outlined the first part of a revised calendar of races.

“Formula 1 has been working closely with all partners, authorities, the FIA and the ten teams to create a revised calendar that will allow a return to racing in a way that is safe for the communities we visit and the entire Formula 1 community,” Carey said.

It was however stated that the all of the races would be behind closed doors which means that no fans would be present at the events.

“We currently expect the opening races to be closed events, but hope fans will be able to join our events again when it is safe to do so,” Chase stated.

The championship which would begin with back-to-back races at the Red Bull would start with a triple-header of races.

At the early of next month the first two rounds would be held in Austria on consecutive weekends.

The season would kick off with the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring on July 5, while a week later on July 12 second race would follow at the same track.

The Hungarian Grand Prix which would be the third race would hold on July 19th at Hungaroring.

Two back to back races would hold at Silverstone on August 2 and 9. One week later the championship would head the Circuit de Catalunya for the postponed Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona.

After the races, there would be extra races in Austria which would be named “Steiermark Grand Prix” and in Britain named “70th Anniversary Grand Prix”, which actually marks the 70th anniversary since the championship began in 1950.

After two weeks of break, the Belgian Grand Prix would follow and a week late the Italian Grand Prix at Monza would hold on September 6.

While giving the details of the new calendar for the races, Chase emphasized that health and safety of drivers, staff and others involved remain a priority.

“The health and safety of all involved will continue to be priority number one, with Formula 1 and the FIA having a robust and detailed plan to ensure our races maintain the highest level of safety with strict procedures in place,” he said.

Formula 2 and 3 also disclosed that they would supports all the races at all eight rounds and that they would announce other events on their calendar at a later time.

Speaking about the success of setting out the calendar for the first eight races, Chase said, “We are pleased to be able to set out our opening eight-race calendar today and look forward to publishing our full calendar in the coming weeks.”

“I want to thank every promoter and partner for their support and ongoing commitment to Formula 1.

“While we currently expect the season to commence without fans at our races we hope that over the coming months the situation will allow us to welcome them back once it is safe to do, but we know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world.”

Meanwhile, grands prix in Australia, the Netherlands, Monaco and France scheduled for this year has been cancelled and would not be returned, while the rounds in Bahrain, Vietnam, China, Azerbaijan and Canada are on the plan of deciding new dates for the races to resume.