Start, Baku City Circuit, 2019

Azerbaijan Grand Prix called off, F1 season won’t start before June 14th

2020 F1 season

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The 2020 F1 season will not begin until June 14th at the earliest as the Azerbaijan Grand Prix has been pulled from the calendar due to the global crisis.

Organisers say they intend to find a replacement date for their race which was originally due to take place on June 7th. The race on the Baku City Circuit has become the eighth race to be struck from the F1 schedule.

In a statement on Monday the Baku race promoters said “the postponement was agreed upon after extensive discussions with Formula 1 as well as the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and the Government of the Azerbaijan Republic.”

“In coming to this conclusion, BCC’s primary concern throughout has been the health and well-being of the Azerbaijani people as well as all visiting F1 fans, staff and championship participants,” it added.

“BCC shares its fans’ disappointment at not being able to experience the pinnacle of motorsport race through the streets of Baku this June. To that end, we will continue to work closely with Formula 1, the FIA and the Government of the Azerbaijan Republic to monitor the situation with a view to announcing a new race date later in the 2020 season.

“All tickets for the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2020 will continue to be valid, without any additional formality. As soon as the new date of the Grand Prix is confirmed, all spectators will be informed accordingly about the available options, both for those who have purchased their tickets through the Baku City Circuit’s website and through other channels.”

The first race on the F1 calendar which is still scheduled to go ahead is the Canadian Grand Prix, originally the ninth round of the championship, on June 14th.

“The preparations for the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix 2020 slated in the Formula 1 world championship for June 12th, 13th and 14th are going well and are following their course,” said the organisers of the race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in a statement.

“This is a situation that we are constantly monitoring and that is evolving rapidly. Please note that we are in constant communication with members of Formula 1, the FIA and public authorities. Our priority remains to host a safe event for both spectators and personnel.

“Should the situation continue to evolve we will lean on the expertise of public health professionals and will keep you updated.”

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How the 2020 F1 calendar has changed

RoundEventDatesNotes
1Australian Grand PrixMar 13-15Cancelled, will not be reschduled
2Bahrain Grand PrixMar 20-22Cancelled, seeking replacement date
3Vietnam Grand PrixApr 3-5Cancelled, seeking replacement date
4Chinese Grand PrixApr 17-19Cancelled, seeking replacement date
5Dutch Grand PrixMay 1-3Cancelled, seeking replacement date
6Spanish Grand PrixMay 8-10Cancelled, seeking replacement date
7Monaco Grand PrixMay 21-24Cancelled, will not be reschduled
8Azerbaijan Grand PrixJun 5-7Cancelled, seeking replacement date
9Canadian Grand PrixJun 12-14
10French Grand PrixJun 26-28
11Austrian Grand PrixJul 3-5
12British Grand PrixJul 17-19
13Hungarian Grand PrixJul 31-Aug 2
14Belgian Grand PrixAug 28-30
15Italian Grand PrixSep 4-6
16Singapore Grand PrixSep 18-20
17Russian Grand PrixSep 25-27
18Japanese Grand PrixOct 9-11
19United States Grand PrixOct 23-25
20Mexican Grand PrixOct 30-Nov 1
21Brazilian Grand PrixNov 13-15
22Abu Dhabi Grand PrixNov 27-29

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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18 comments on “Azerbaijan Grand Prix called off, F1 season won’t start before June 14th”

  1. after Baku comes Canada. considering they cancelled any participation in the Olympics, they might cancel too. then comes the European season, where the situation is at its worst. we might be looking at starting in Singapore in September. at that point, isn’t it better to just write off this year’s car’s and focus on the New regulations. team’s need to spend the little money they have on the future, not the past. I think these regulations have run their course

  2. Before jumping into screaming “JUST CANCEL THE ENTIRE 2020 SEASON ALREADY”, like many do, i say let’s just wait and see how the situation unfolds over the coming months. There is no reason into rushing this decision (even if we end up doing this eventually – the safety of all the people comes first of course), when we could still salvage a shorter season. Personaly i wouldn’t mind if in between the record 21-22 seasons we had, we get a 10-15 race season like the old days with 2-day weekends… of course provided no life is in danger due to the pandemic.

    The reason that Australia and Monaco canceled completely their races and Azerbaijan postponed theirs 2,5 months before, is because these are street circuits and need a lot of weeks to prepare the course. Other races, like the ones in Europe in the summer that take place in normal circuits can evaluate over the coming months how the pandemic plays out, there is no need to rush. And even if the season has to start after the (old) summer break in August, it makes more sense for the teams to hold a short season in 2020 financialy (car development + any TV revenue that can be salvaged) since next year we will have the same cars, than just waiting for 2021 to come…

    1. Like I said before Monaco doesnt pay hosting fees, FOM/FIA doesnt have any motivation to reschedule that event. I think at this time all the factories are shutdown and this is an early summer break with the usual summer break being used to hold races. Lets see how the pandemic plays out but I dont see how the worst affected countries of West Europe will host the race after the storm has past.

      1. This situation changes really fast and it’s something unknown. 2-3 weeks ago everything was running as normal and suddenly in the span of a few days our lives have changed rapidly. Who knows what the restrictions, advancements in medicine and the summer with higher temperatures will bring…

        My guess is that if the situation is contained by mid-May – mid-June, most races in Europe will be held with few to no crowds at all. From the most affected countries in Europe, only France and the UK have races in the summer and Italy in September. I wouldn’t be surprised if France and Italy get canceled, no matter how things get better.

        The Netherlands would return most likely in August after Hungary and Abu Dhabi will move into mid-to-late December to accomodate as many races as they can after Brazil (China and Bahrain i believe and possibly Vietnam if they can).

        1. That whole scenario of virus slowing down in summer sounds like a myth. In India its been 4 weeks since the infection started(brought over here by Italian and British tourists who might end up in jails here under Epidemic disease act) and overall climate here is hot(temps are hovering around mid 30s to high 30s with nights hovering around 20s with it rising for next 2 months with peaks of around 47C) and still there are no signs of slowing down of infection rather in those 4 weeks there has been a steady increase to 450 +ve cases. Also even if the infection recedes in coming months looking at the social impact it has had with Italy overtaking China in deaths and Spain, France and UK also in same situation hosting event of size of F1 even behind closed doors would be bad.
          Still lets see how it changes, as there were some positive news(still waiting for labs to verify it) of anti-malarial drug found to be effective in treating the infection.

  3. Montreal is a temporary circuit in a park , I doubt it will go ahead.

    1. @ExPatBrit Not really a temporary circuit as it isn’t in regular everyday road-usage as the Albert Park, Monaco, Baku, and Marina Bay streets. Some stands may be temporary, but the rest of the infrastructure is permanent.

    2. Pat (@patrick1972)
      23rd March 2020, 16:24

      Canada are the first to pull their Athletes from the Olympics, so to me it seems highly unlikely they will go ahead and host an F1 Race

      1. It won’t happen.

        Maybe Brazil, Mexico, US, Canada in the fall.

        1. I don’t think a race is possible in Canada past, say, the 3rd week of September, due to temperature. You CAN get a good day in late september, but you can also end up with a really cold one.

          Here are the maximum temperatures registered in Montreal in the last 5 years on October 11th :

          17,9; 16,7; 12,2; 10,9 and 19,3

          And that’s the Max temperature. During the night it hovers around 5 degrees.

          For the record, here is the list for September 27 :

          23,1; 20,9; 31,2; 17,8 and 19,8

  4. I didn’t expect this as much as the ones originally scheduled before. Surely, June 7 should be late enough. I guess the infrastructural-aspects involved would become a problem since it’s about now or in the coming days they would’ve started to build-up the temporary facilities and stands.

    1. Given the infrastructural-logistics, rescheduling wouldn’t be any easier for Baku than Melbourne, Monaco, or Hanoi.

  5. I think that governments are going to take considerably longer to fully open borders and permit unfettered international travel, especially from/to the hot spots like Italy and Spain. I agree with not cancelling at the moment but it does seem a bit optimistic to expect anything much this year because of unlifted restrictions. There will be a lingering fear of a quick return if restrictions are lifted too early. And we don’t want that…

  6. I can’t see having any F1 race until AFTER the summer break in August – and that’s very optimistic. My bet would be that the whole season will be cancelled and we start again March 2021.

  7. I agree not to cancel the entire season for now but I find it very difficult that there could be any race before October.

    1. If that is true I struggle to believe there will be any race this year, they would need to fit 8 races from oct to dec!

  8. Non-essential activities are currently shut down in Québec for a few weeks.

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