Dutch Grand Prix Canceled For 2020, How F1’s Schedule In Lining Up Now

The Dutch Grand Prix will have to wait until 2021 to make it’s Formula One debut. New to the schedule for 2020, the race was going to have a hard time getting off the ground with fans in attendance. With the event already being sold out, race organizers didn’t want to host the return of F1 behind closed doors.

“We were completely ready for this first race and we still are,” said former F1 driver and Dutch Grand Prix sports director Jan Lammers in a statement.

“We and Formula 1 have investigated the potential to hold a rescheduled race this year without spectators, but we would like to celebrate this moment, the return of Formula 1 in Zandvoort, together with our racing fans in the Netherlands. We ask everyone to be patient. I had to look forward to it for 35 years, so I can wait another year.”

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So, where does this leave the schedule now? A month ago, F1 CEO Chase Carey said that they are expecting to run 15-18 races in 2020 and would do so geographically. They’d start in Europe for July-August, then move to Asia in September-October. From there, it would be to the Americas for October-November then wrap up in December in the Middle East.

We know four of the 22 initially scheduled races (Monaco, France, Netherlands and Australia) have been cancelled. We know seven more are seeking new dates (Bahrain, Vietnam, China, Netherlands, Spain, Azerbaijan and Canada). With two added races in Austria and England at the start and a goal of 15-18 rounds, some of those on the “postponed” list are going to move to the “canceled” one.

So where do we sit from there?

England’s race at Silverstone has been on, off, on again, off again and now appears to be able to come back on again. That’s how fluid the situation remains.

The European races left to schedule are — Austria, England, Hungary, Spain, Italy and Azerbaijan.

We know July 5 and July 12 is reserved for Austria as the new official “start” to the season. Instead of moving to England for July 26 and Aug. 2, Hungary will move up and race on July 19. At that point, the teams would get a one week gap before racing two races at Silverstone on back-to-back weekends on Aug. 2 and Aug. 9. Another week off will commence then back-to-back weeks in Belgium (Aug. 30) and Italy (Sept. 6). All of these races will take place without fans.

That takes care of all the races with the exception of Azerbaijan which can move to September and give them time to get the street circuit ready. They can race a week before Russia due to their close proximity and kick off the Asia portion of the schedule.

From there, you have Japan, China, Singapore and Vietnam to make up. China was the starter of the coronavirus, so do they remain on the schedule? Japan can be made up after Russia with Vietnam maybe after. Singapore is a street circuit and would be tough to reschedule. I can see China and Singapore being left off and joining one of the European races.

That means we’re down to 11 races with 3-6 more to schedule. We know December will consist of Bahrain and Abu Dhabi in that order, so that gets us to 13 races with late October and all of November left to fill.

The races left would be United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil. Canada is part street race too and Montreal is pretty cold in those months. I can see them being left off. Mexico and Brazil are warmer climates and can run back-to-back. That puts us at 16 races with a potential 17th is the US Grand Prix stays.

COTA would need fans in order to make it work since their sanctioning fee is around $25 million. October could be enough time to host a race with fans in Texas, but if they can’t do so, then racing in the United States for F1 in 2020 could prove to be difficult.

 

 

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