F1 has announced the European leg of the 2020 season as it confirms the start with a double weekend in Austrian GP.
After months of wait and deliberations, F1 is ready for its official 2020 start – barring any last minute hiccups – with the first round to be the Austrian GP at Red Bull Ring on July 3-5 weekend. As expected, it will host two races with second one on July 10-12 weekend.
The third F1 round will be the Hungarian GP at Hungaroring on July 17-19 weekend to complete a triplet with a break in between which will be followed by two British GP at Silverstone on July 31 – August 2 and August 7-9 weekends.
They will then travel down for the sixth F1 round with the Spanish GP at Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona on August 14-16 weekend to complete another triplet. With a break, they will move to Spa-Francorchamps for Belgium GP on August 28-30 weekend.
The eighth round will be the Italian GP at Monza on September 4-6 weekend. F1 has noted different names for the second round in Austria and Britain, the former being sponsored by Pirelli as opposed to Rolex and titled ‘GROSSER PREIS DER STEIERMARK’.
The opener will be named as usual ‘GROSSER PREIS VON OSTERREICH’. In the same way, the first British GP will be sponsored by Pirelli with its usual name, while the second one by Emirates and named as ’70TH ANNIVERSARY GRAND PRIX’.
As expected and known none of the F1 races will have fans allowed due to COVID-19 fears as limited team personnel will be allowed in and tested religiously to evade the chances of virus in the paddock.
“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,” said F1 chief Chase Carey.
“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 F1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the
world.”
BREAKING: The opening 8 races of a revised 2020 calendar are now confirmed
All 8 are currently set to be closed events, operating under the strongest safety procedures
Further races will be announced in the coming weeks pic.twitter.com/vQioKOAkQo
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 2, 2020
Aside the main F1 championship, they also confirmed the eight rounds for both F2 and F3 championships as well, making it a full-round weekend – albeit without fans and any activities related to the same.
“First of all, I would like to thank Formula 1 and the FIA for making this revised opening calendar possible in such difficult circumstances,” said Bruno Michael. “I am very pleased to confirm that F2 and F3 will be able to race alongside F1 in the first eight events.
“It is unfortunate that currently we don’t expect fan attendance in these opening events, but we are however glad that we are able to bring them the entertainment of our racing in the safest way possible.
“We will also follow the very detailed safety plan put in place by Formula 1 and the FIA as our priority is to make sure no risks are taken. Our 2020 season will continue beyond Monza. We will announce the second part of our calendar as soon as possible.”
As we return to racing, safety is paramount #F1 pic.twitter.com/zmA3L652JY
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 2, 2020
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