On the even of the 2020 start, Chase Carey states that F1 has next set of races sorted mostly but they cannot lock the dates just yet.
Having got the first eight F1 races confirmed with start in Austria in July and running until start of September in Italy, they now have to sort out the second half of the 2020 calendar which may include certain flyaway grand prix events.
F1 has a list of places they have at hand which haven’t been cancelled for 2020 while there are new additions also talked about. Among the total new-for, which weren’t originally part of the calendar, are Mugello, Imola, Hockenheim and Portimao.
As for the others which is yet to be cancelled are China, Vietnam, Russia, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, USA, Mexico, Canada and Brazil. Looking at the places, some of the rounds can only be possible if they are clubbed with other F1 races in the closer region.
If we go by region then China, Russia and Vietnam can be clubbed together, while Bahrain and Abu Dhabi with each other and then USA, Mexico, Canada and Brazil. But not all will make it in eventually despite the idea of staging 15-18 F1 races.
Ahead of the start in Austria, Carey opened up about the second part, where he feel America is a deciding factor and that they cannot fix the date straightaway. “I think in the next few weeks we will look to land, certainly at least another chunk of the calendar, ideally we’d like to land the whole second half of the calendar,” he said to F1 site.
“There are a number of races we already know will be on the calendar. I don’t want to get into piecemeal addressing it, I’d like to address it holistically. But to lock the dates in we really need to figure out what other races will be on it.
“We’ve said 15-18 races and we still feel comfortable with that as a target. Right now we have a number of races we have essentially agreed with, we just haven’t firmed the date up. And a number of places we are moving forward with, trying to firm a date up.
“We have a few that are much more up in the air based in circumstances in that country. When you look at the US, Mexico, Brazil, clearly right now they seem to be having a higher incidence of infections than other places. So we’re trying to get guidance from these places on what’s possible, what we can do.
“Really we need to know, can we race in a location? Will there be restrictions on our ability to get in and out a location in a functioning way? And to some degree we’re trying to address the fan question. We’d like to have fans at our races. It’s a possibility.
“One of the challenges of looking at a calendar in November is November is four months away. You’re less than four months into the virus, so trying to look forward to where you’ll be in November I understand is hard for everybody. But ultimately we need to plan ahead.
“So there’s a point in time when we have to just put a stake in the ground and make decisions on what we know. I think that’s soon,” summed up Carey. Additionally, the American also talked about being better prepared than how they were in Australia.
Carey talked about having multiple tests and taking care of the personnel on track is paramount and they have done as much to handle it in a better way. He also opened up on the new diversity aspect, which he things will help F1 grow.
“Diversity has taken more energy and more focus,” said Carey. “We made a commitment to this and we wanted to reemphasize that we want to focus on diversity this F1 weekend and longer term. It is something we wanted to re emphasise this weekend. We want to do this short term as well as longer term.
“We want to be part of the people who are part of the solution. I believe from my prospective the two things that make a difference are education and opportunity. How do you provide education opportunities to those who do not have the same opportunities and how do you provide opportunities?
“This is why we have announced the Task Force. To address those issues education and opportunities are the chore and we will continue this fight like we have female opportunities. We are committed to be working in these directions.”
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