Formula One aims to start season this July, no fans at Grands Prix
If the plan goes ahead, we'll be treated to lights out in Austria as the first race of the season.
Like so many other areas of entertainment, the coronavirus pandemic struck Formula One and pumped the brakes on the the season's start. In fact, a decision to postpone -- and eventually cancel -- the season's start at the Australian Grand Prix came mighty close to race day.
After weeks of shutdowns and breaks for F1 teams, it looks like we may have a solid date for when we'll be treated to a race. F1 CEO Chase Carey wrote on Monday the organization aims to start the season on July 5 with the Austrian Grand Prix as the season's kickoff. Already, we've missed numerous races and seen a handful canceled outright, most recently the French Grand Prix.
However, "we are now increasingly confident with the progress of our plans to begin our season this summer," Carey wrote in his announcement. All the while, he underscored the health and safety of everyone involved with F1 will be at the forefront of any decision.
Should F1 move forward with a July start to the season, we'll be in for an abbreviated one. July, August and September would see teams race in the remaining European Grands Prix. The latter half of September, then October and November, would take teams to Eurasia, Asia and the Americas. Final races would take place in the Gulf region in December as scheduled. This would cram in between 15-18 races.
Coronavirus updates
The early races would, likely, feature no fans to witness the on-track action -- only teams and supporting personnel would be at the track. As the organization evaluates the COVID-19 situation along with local governments, we could see stands once again will with fans, but it's nowhere near confirmed at this point.
But, this is the game plan for now. We'll certainly keep a watchful eye on happenings to see if we'll be treated to some racing action at all this year.
