In the round-up: The coronavirus which originated in Wuhan, China and is believed to have caused over 130 deaths could prevent April’s Chinese Grand Prix from going ahead.
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Links
More motor racing links of interest:
World Indoor Athletics cancelled over coronavirus with Chinese GP at risk (The Guardian)
"Both F1 management and the governing FIA are monitoring the situation to consider their options for the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, which is scheduled for 19 April. Although the virus originated in Wuhan, the Shanghai Health Commission has acknowledged that 13 new cases were identified on Monday in Shanghai, taking the total to 66."
Miami Gardens is hosting another Super Bowl, but what’s in it for the city? (Miami Herald)
"A group of Miami Gardens residents is planning to protest the auto racing proposal outside the stadium before the Super Bowl on Sunday."
Karters Harry Thompson and Miguel Costa become Sauber juniors (Formula Scout)
"Former Red Bull junior Harry Thompson and Miguel Costa have joined the Sauber Junior Team’s karting division."
A letter to my younger self: Scheckter (F1)
"1979 world champion Jody Scheckter reveals the advice he would offer his younger self upon entering Formula 1."
How soapbox racing forged Deletraz's F1 dream (F2)
"As a former F1 driver himself, Delétraz’s father, Jean-Denis, initially saw it as the safer option for his son – refusing to let him kart competitively before he was 10-years-old. That was, until their strive for perfection and naturally competitive instinct saw them build a soapbox which hit dangerously high speeds. "
Colin McRae: Flat Out Pack – Coming to Dirt Rally 2.0 on March 24 (Dirt via YouTube)
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
#F1 has confirmed the starting times for the #JapaneseGP sessions. The race will begin one hour earlier than last year. Details:https://t.co/rUMNlxXgRz
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) January 29, 2020
𝗩𝗢𝗟𝗨𝗠𝗘 𝗨𝗣 🔊
Get ready to hear our 2020 car roar into life 🤩 https://t.co/fcZh3qEtK1#essereFerrari 🔴 #Seb5 #Charles16 pic.twitter.com/mtX3mMyC6G
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) January 29, 2020
Stop scrolling. ✋
Turn up your volume. 🔊
Listen as the #MCL35 comes to life. 🤩 pic.twitter.com/TINuIXxQjh— McLaren (@McLarenF1) January 29, 2020
Pirelli have been announced as title sponsors for the Formula 1 2020 British and Japanese Grands Prix. @SilverstoneUK @suzuka_event @F1
— Pirelli Motorsport (@pirellisport) January 29, 2020
To be even more fair – we did not state they were leaving, we said it was under consideration and they would remain as engine supplier either way, so Mercedes would still be in @f1, but not as team owner. Semantics cleverly answered.
— Fritz-Dieter Rencken (@RacingLines) January 29, 2020
Hamilton responds to reports claiming he was demanding up to $90 million from Mercedes.#F1 pic.twitter.com/0JP2TFkq1T
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) January 29, 2020
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
How many F1 teams could be weighing up the possibility of leaving the sport?
I’m not really surprised that Mercedes corporate is under pressure to abandon F1, especially given the magnitude of their lay-offs.
It will boil down to simple maths. Is their investment in F1 getting them equal value in sales. Or more particularly, would sales be impacted by their leaving F1. The sale price of the team may also have some bearing – I doubt that Stroll/Wolff have deep enough pockets to effectively buy it out without attracting another investor from somewhere.
I also suspect that there will be similar meetings in similar board rooms this year.
The most likely candidate I believe would be Red Bull. At some point the owner might just decide that it’s not worth the money.
Let’s also not forget that Renault has a number of corporate woes so I’d not necessarily see them being super positive about staying either.
It will be interesting to see what incentives Liberty may have to offer up to hold the competition together.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
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On this day in F1
- 65 years ago today Juan Manuel Fangio won the non-championship Buenos Aires Grand Prix, held over two heats, in his Mercedes
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
30th January 2020, 0:59
90 million? Why not? He is the main reason merc has stayed in f1. Great news on JPGP, the US gp is also starting really late.
MacLeod (@macleod)
30th January 2020, 7:55
he makes now 40M pound if my memory serves me right, i think the amount is more around 60 M and for till 2022. Not that Lewis asked for this but a offer from Mercedes to overthink the talks later.
Maybe something for @Keith to make a article over how contracts talks work in F1 !
Jere (@jerejj)
30th January 2020, 8:18
@peartree But only an hour later as it most recently did in 2017.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
30th January 2020, 2:21
Seeing that the daylight hours/visibility factor was always a concern with the Japanese GP, it is good to see the starting time advanced by an hour.
Thecollaroyboys (@thecollaroyboys)
30th January 2020, 7:04
Is that the official reason or just well founded speculation? I was thinking of going again this year and an earlier start would certainly make the return journey to Nagoya a bit more relaxed.
Jere (@jerejj)
30th January 2020, 8:20
@phylyp But it wasn’t a concern with the most recent race start time, so it’s more likely about the logistics of getting to and leaving Suzuka as @thecollaroyboys brought up.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
30th January 2020, 10:44
@thecollaroyboys – oh, it’s just my speculation and a general statement, given that the later start time was one of the factors associated with Bianchi’s crash. That doesn’t mean it was the motivation behind moving this year’s start time. Good to know of the travel benefit you’ve pointed out.
@jerejj – quite possible, yes. I’m just saying the added daylight is another benefit as well. And while the start time wasn’t a problem last year, a 2:10 pm start still means the four-hour race window crosses into twilight, a problem that is avoided by starting an hour earlier. It needn’t just be rain-related stoppages that can cause delays, it could even be significant repairs like the one necessitated by Kimi’s crash in Silverstone in 2014.
Scottie (@scottie)
30th January 2020, 3:08
Heh, nice one, saw what you did there… on this day :)
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
30th January 2020, 21:47
@scottie You’re going to have to tell me what I’ve done there as I have no idea!
Scottie (@scottie)
2nd February 2020, 0:16
@keithcollantine Sorry mate, thought it was a play on Mercedes leaving the sport vs noting their achievements and heritage with it, hoping they’d not withdraw.
Thought, of all the things to note in F1 on this day, it might have been something, but nevermind. :)
Broke84 (@broke84)
30th January 2020, 7:38
It would make total sense to cancel the china race, the most important thing is reducing the spread of the coronavirus. Cancelling a race would be something I’d use to consider a shame but there are so many races now per season that one won’t be missed.
Chaitanya
30th January 2020, 8:04
There have been times when races were cancelled due to safety conditions of drivers so in this case it would be wise to cancel the even well in advance for health safety of spectators and the teams.
trocdero
30th January 2020, 9:58
Given the geography and reported spread of the virus, might the preceding race in Vietnam also have to be cancelled?
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
30th January 2020, 15:45
@broke84
I agree cancelling could make sense, but given F1 being an “international sport” and the money involved, I imagine they’ll do everything they can do to keep the race on, even if it means racing behind closed doors and having some sort of quarantine from airport to circuit! (Regardless of how logistically ridiculous that would be)
Broke84 (@broke84)
31st January 2020, 7:25
It wouldn’t work. Marshal’s and other track workers will be local.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
30th January 2020, 7:54
We still know little about the virus or the amount of quarantine time needed for those exposed to the virus. I think the safer option is to be cautious now rather than Gung Ho. One easy option is to swap another established event with the Chinese GP, e.g. the Russian or Italian GP, so they do the GP early in the season and the Chinese GP is done later in the season. By then we should have a much better idea about whether to cancel the Chinese GP. If we had to cancel that at the later part of the year then we will probably be dealing with a pandemic, in which case F1 might have to conclude the season early.
Jere (@jerejj)
30th January 2020, 8:30
@drycrust That’s easier said than done, though. You can’t just suddenly move a venue from the end of the season to the beginning with this little notice or the other way round for a few reasons. Should the Chinese GP get cancelled then, it’d mean no Chinese GP for the 2020 season.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
30th January 2020, 16:44
Yes, those are good points. Lots of people have made hotel bookings, there’s things like satellite links that have been booked, TV broadcast contracts booked … pretty much everything will have been booked and all that would need to be changed, which would cause frustration and annoyance, especially as there’s no guarantee that some of those services will be available at that other time.
The next GP is about two weeks after the Chinese GP, and two weeks seems to be an acceptable quarantine time … except everyone wasn’t actually in quarantine, they will have sat next to people in aircraft, buses, trains, got home, gone back to work, made contact with maybe several thousand people each, etc.
Jere (@jerejj)
30th January 2020, 8:27
Probably not any greater threat than the fires to the Australian GP, though. I’m positive everything will go ahead as planned.
The fourth different title-sponsor for the Japanese GP in as many seasons as Emirates held that status for a few years most recent in 2017, then Honda in 2018, and Heineken last season, so they don’t seem to be able to make up their mind on this front, LOL.
The 14:10 (14:00 before 2018) start time had worked, though, so maybe not the most necessary change, but I can understand them wanting to have 60 minutes more till the sunset just in case or to ease the travelling to and out of the circuit for attendees. The only downside for me is the need to wake up 60 minutes earlier than in the last five seasons, but it’s worth it given the (probable) reason(s) behind the shift. The thing I still can’t really understand, though, is this constant postponement of Friday practice-session timings from 10:00-11:30 and 14:00-15:30 to 11:00-12:30 and 15:00-16:30 for FP1 and FP2 respectively. What’s the point in those? More consistency on this front wouldn’t be for the bad.
JamieFranklinF1 (@jamiefranklinf1)
30th January 2020, 9:50
Isn’t the expression “pose a threat” or am I missing something? 🤔
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
30th January 2020, 10:20
@jamiefranklinf1: It is. But on the internet, a post is more powerful than a pose. Even if the post is made by a poser. Modern communication is complicated. ;-)