Formula One has announced the first eight dates of its rescheduled calendar as the sport aims to return to racing on July 5 in Austria.
The first ten races of the original 2020 calendar were either cancelled or postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, forcing F1 to reschedule as many races as possible in the second half of the year.
The published dates only represent the first eight European rounds — taking place in six venues over ten weekends — with F1 hoping to announce further races in Asia and the Americas in the coming weeks to establish a calendar of 15-18 races.
The sport said it “currently expects” that the opening races will be closed to fans, but that it would welcome fans back to circuits when it is safe to do so. In order to cram as many races as possible into the calendar, double headers will take place at the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone — a first for F1.
Opening F1 calendar:
July 3-5: Red Bull Ring, Austria
July 10-12: Red Bull Ring, Austria
July 17-19: Hungaroring, Hungary
July 31-August 2: Silverstone, Great Britain
August 7-9: Silverstone, Great Britain
August 14-16: Circuit de Catalunya, Spain
August 28-30: Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
September 4-6: Monza, Italy
F1 CEO Chase Carey said: “In the past weeks we have been working tirelessly with all our partners, the FIA and the teams to create a revised opening 2020 calendar allowing us to restart racing in the safest possible way. 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 One. 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 One will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world.”
More to follow…