SPIELBERG, Austria. — Formula One will resume its season in early July as the international racing series has been shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic.
F1 chairman Chase Carey announced in a press release Tuesday morning an eight-race schedule for the first half of the 2020 season, which has had to be revised with the majority of the season’s first ten races having been canceled.
“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,” Carey said. 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.”
The first two races of the season will be in Austria on the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg July 5 and July 12. The following week the series will do one race in Budapest, Hungary on the Hungaroring. That will be followed up with another two-week double-header at Silverstone in the United Kingdom for the rescheduled British Grand Prix Aug. 2 and then the Formula One 70th Anniversary Grand Prix Aug. 9.
“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,” Carey added. “We know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world.”
Formula One will reveal additional races as the season progresses beyond these first eight as the season progresses.
