Chase Carey has released another statement on the on-going situation with F1 as it looks at 15-18 events in 2020 along with other ideas.
With the postponement of Azerbaijan GP, F1 has released another statement from Carey, who after the happenings in Australia has been very vocal in his updates. It is a welcome change after the nightmare situation then where we had to wait whole night.
In the new update, Carey says F1 is looking at 15-18 events in all for the 2020 season as he hopes it can start sometime in the summer – this doesn’t mean that Canada will kick-off the year. More so, he also confirmed that they will go beyond the November date.
The Abu Dhabi GP was supposed to take place on November 27-29 weekend but F1 will finish possibly in December. As the COVID-19 pandemic creates havoc around the globe, many sports bodies are having to fall back on their second option.
Fortunately for F1, the rise of ESports is helping them to reach out to fans in some way. The Virtual Grand Prix will continue on and even though the first weekend had some technical issues, they hope the future rounds will be in a better shape.
Aside that, Carey says Netflix is also being looked at a potential source of entertainment. Few days back, I shared an idea here, where I felt F1 could use unseen footage from last year and use it to show some new elements to fan which they never saw.
Here’s the full statement from Carey:
“Over the past week, Formula 1, the ten F1 teams and the FIA have come together and taken rapid, decisive action as part of our initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While at present no-one can be certain of exactly when the situation will improve, it will improve and when it does, we will be ready to go racing again. We are all committed to bringing our fans a 2020 Championship Season.
“We recognise there is significant potential for additional postponements in currently scheduled events, none the less we and our partners fully expect the season to start at some point this summer, with a revised calendar of between 15-18 races. As previously announced we will utilise the summer break being brought forward to March/April, to race during the normal summer break period and anticipate the season end date will extend beyond our original end date of 27-29th November, with the actual sequence and
schedule dates for races differing significantly from our original 2020 calendar.
“It is not possible to provide a more specific calendar now due to the fluidity of the current situation but we expect to gain clearer insights to the situation in each of our host countries, as well as the issues related to travel to these countries, in the coming month. With the benefit of the FIA’s announcement and agreement in principle to freeze technical regulations throughout 2021, no summer break and factory shut downs being moved forward to March/April the sport now intends to race through the period normally set aside for the summer break and fulfil lost events from the first part of this year.
“This flexibility offers an opportunity to evolve the sport, experiment and try new things. That may include initiatives such as expanding our esports platform, developing more innovative content like Netflix Drive to Survive and other creative ways to drive ongoing value for the sport’s sponsor partners, broadcast partners, race promoters, teams and fans – the ecosystem of our fantastic sport.
“Between Formula 1, the teams and the FIA, working with our key stakeholders, we are planning and fully committed to returning to the track at the earliest opportunity to commence the 2020 season and will continue to take advice from health officials and experts, as our first priority continues to be the safety and health of our fans, the communities we visit and those within the Formula 1 family. We’re confident we’ll all get through this and see better days, ahead, and, when we do, we will ensure that everyone invested in this sport at every level feels rewarded.”
Here’s info on Azerbaijan GP postponement
Here’s Lewis Hamilton urging everyone to stay in
Here’s F1 teams updating on early closure
Here’s Lewis Hamilton updating his situation
Here’s F1 teams coming out to help the health sector
Here’s news on F1 deferring 2021 regs to 2022
Zhou wins F1 inaugural Bahrain Virtual Grand Prix from Vandoorne
