Liberty Media confirms plans to launch 2020 season

In the wake of the cancellation of the 1 F2020 French Grand Prix, Liberty Media announced its desire to launch the season in Austria at the beginning of July on Red Bull Spielberg Ring.

A home kick-off for Red Bull Racing which had been “teased” by Helmut Marko, motorsport consultant for the team, in recent days. On the other hand, Liberty Media does not (yet?) mention multiple meetings on a single circuit, idea in discussions for several days.

Europe will therefore be the scene of the start of the 2020 campaign, which will be clearly divided between three phases. “We are aiming to start racing in Europe in July, August and early September, with the first race taking place in Austria on the weekend of July 3-5, comments Chase Carey, director of F1.

September, October and November would see us racing in Eurasia, Asia and the Americas, before finishing the season in the Gulf in December with Bahrain before the traditional finale in Abu Dhabi, having contested between 15 and 18 races. We will release our finalized schedule as soon as possible. »

Another announcement, the very certain implementation of closed doors for the first tests, to best meet the health requirements of governments in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We expect the first races to be without fans, but we hope that spectators will come to the events as we move forward in the calendar, explains the F1 director.

We still need to resolve many issues, such as procedures for teams and our other partners to enter and operate in each country.

The health and safety of everyone involved will continue to be a priority and we will only move forward if we are satisfied that we have reliable procedures to address both risks and potential issues.

All of our plans are obviously subject to change as we still have many issues to resolve and we are all subject to the unknowns of the virus. »

Liberty Media, which has already postponed the future technical regulations for one year in agreement with the FIA, also specifies that it is continuing its work to best manage the difficult period which should begin once the health situation returns to normal/

“We have also worked hard with the FIA ​​and the teams to strengthen the long-term future of Formula 1 through a range of new technical, sporting and financial regulations which will improve the competition and action on the track and make it healthier. » Carey concludes.