Motorsport: Formula One boss hopeful of truncated season post coronavirus pandemic

F1 boss Chase Carey
F1 boss Chase Carey Photo credit: Getty

Formula One boss Chase Carey hopes the 2020 season can still feature up to 18 races, despite being forced to call off another Grand Prix.

On Tuesday, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, scheduled for June 8, became the eighth event pulled from the schedule, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The season is yet to begin, after the Australian and Bahrain Grands Prix did not go ahead this month.

Races in Vietnam, China, Holland, Spain and Monaco have also been postponed or cancelled.

"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,"  says chief executive Carey.

"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. Nonetheless, we and our partners fully expect the season to start at some point this summer, with a revised calendar of between 15-18 races."

With the exception of Australia and Monaco, organisers hope to find new dates for all races, when possible.

In an attempt to create room, the planned summer break was brought forward to the spring, but Carey admits racing could go on into December.

"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 November 27-29, with the actual sequence and schedule dates for races differing significantly from our original 2020 calendar," he added.

The earliest the F1 campaign can now start is with the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on June 15, but that is also uncertain.

Silverstone chiefs have said they would provide fans with full refunds, if the British Grand Prix - pencilled in for July 29 - does not go ahead.

Reuters