Christian Horner, Red Bull, Circuit de Catalunya, 2020

Horner expects incidents due to drivers being “rusty” when F1 season starts

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In the round-up: Red Bull team principal Christian Horner predicts Formula 1 will see several “incidents” when the 2020 season begins due to drivers being “rusty” from the extended delay during the off-season.

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Will F1 race in Canada or the USA this year?

I can’t see Canada on the schedule this year as Trudeau has said no sporting events all summer. And surely the FIA wouldn’t set foot on US soil this year, even though they are opening up again, with 28,000 new cases yesterday.
Josh (@Canadianjosh)

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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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20 comments on “Horner expects incidents due to drivers being “rusty” when F1 season starts”

  1. I saw headlines on the news tv news paper roundup that the UK are likely to enact 2 week quarantine for anyone entering/returning to the UK from next week as they start to ease lockdown.

    They do that then running any races could be tricky unless you send crews based in UK out on the road & don’t have them return to base for weeks/months to avoid the quarantine which I don’t think is feasible.

    1. TBH I thought most enlightened countries were already doing this, so I was a bit surprised that it wasn’t already the case in the UK.

      If they do bring it in, I can’t see F1 or any sport being given any special exceptions.

      COTD makes a very good point about the US. It would be interesting to hear the views of the GPDA on the risks of entering certain countries that are showing little progress against the virus.

    2. @PeterG @dbradock In that case, there’d have to be at least two non-race weekends between the second Red Bull Ring-race and the first Silverstone-race, i.e., August 2 would be the earliest possible for Silverstone I should Red Bull Ring II take place on July 12.

    3. The two week quarantine period would apply to flights into the UK. However they also said it would not apply to trucks and other vehicles driving into the UK from the continent. So the whole circus could pack up and drive to Silverstone.

      1. @dex But trucks wouldn’t be used this time around for the European-races. At least not for those that would happen without spectators in attendance.

        1. Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
          10th May 2020, 0:46

          @jerejj No, but I can see buses getting hired to transport staff that would otherwise use planes ;)

      2. And people won’t be transferred via truck only goods.

    4. Airlines seem to be confirming that & seems the PM will announce it during tomorrow’s daily briefing.

      Airlines UK, the trade body for UK registered airlines, has confirmed to Sky News that the move will be introduced by the government for anyone arriving into the UK other than from Ireland, to ease the spread of COVID-19.

      Under the measures, which are expected to come into force in June, all passengers arriving at airports – including returning UK citizens – will have to provide an address where they will self-isolate for 14 days.

      Ports will also be included, according to The Times.

      https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-uk-arrivals-face-fortnight-covid-19-quarantine-reports-11985548

      1. Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
        10th May 2020, 0:56

        @StefMeister Airports and ports, but not Eurostar (so not trains, buses or cars)?

  2. I already knew about the possibility of rescheduling the Spanish GP to potentially August, and that’s something I could indeed see happening, although later in the year would also work temperature-wise. Furthermore, another point from the same article: No one still seems to take into account the fact Yas Marina Circuit is already booked for the annual 12 hours of Gulf for the second weekend of December, which means the Abu Dhabi GP could only take place on that weekend if the former moves to either direction by at least seven days. BTW, also on this day in F1: The 2010 edition of the Spanish GP took place, a race won by Mark Webber from pole position.

    Regarding the COTD: Sporting events/mass gatherings have been banned in the province of Quebec until the end of August for about a month now (shortly after the Canadian GP lost its scheduled date for this year), so the Canadian GP has been more or less a lost-case from that day onwards as mid-September is the rough deadline for achieving ideal temps for F1 there. The US GP happening could indeed also be doubtful even though it isn’t due until October 25.

    1. @jerejj considering the relative prestige and international standing of an F1 race versus a regional sportscar race, I think the odds are that the sportscar race is very much more likely to be asked to move if F1 wants to hold a race that weekend.

      1. @anon I’m also positive they’d be willing to move their event in the event of being asked to do that for F1.

  3. ColdFly (@)
    9th May 2020, 8:07

    I guess I’m one of the lucky ones being immune.
    I have developed a strong level of immunity against the urge of sharing my views on which race could be held where, when, and how. I’m just looking forward to a race at any time in the future.

    I dearly miss the Caption Competition though.

  4. Boy, I’m glad they don’t plan to have public in Barcelona if the race finally happens in the months of July/August. I rather sunbathe on the Sun, rather than go there!

    1. @fer-no65 I’m the opposite. I’d rather go to the track than sunbathe.

      1. @jerejj hope you’re a Liverpool supporter because you’d come back home red as a tomato! :P

        1. @fer-no65 No, I’m not, but LOL anyway. I know what you’re getting at and it’s something I’ve already experienced before, sitting on a grandstand under direct sunshine for a few hours, which got me quite burned, LOL.

          1. @jerejj well remember the swine flu in 2009? In Argentina every sport, social gatherings and even school and.universities closed during the peak months of July. So the national touring car series there had to reschedule their calendar so the season finale happened in the middle.of December in Buenos Aires which is hell already temperature-wise.

            I came back home sunburned so much that even the inside of my ears burned. It hurt so much, and I had exams during that week. Even driving was a pain, the seat belt kept rubbing me…

            I swore never to go through that again and to this day everytime I’m out in the sun, I put on sunscreen much more than the rest of my friends or whoever is with me.

            Feel sorry for everyone standing on the tarmac in sunny Montmelo in August…

        2. @fer-no65 Yes, I remember the Swine Influenza-epidemic, although it didn’t lead to any cancellations or postponements for the F1 races at the time. Nevertheless, I can understand if people don’t feel comfortable under abundant sunshine, but I don’t start to feel uncomfortable easily, which is partly because I rather enjoy sunny and warm weather conditions. The highest ambient temps I’ve encountered are in the first half of the 30s (C), in Spain (close to the Montmelo-area) and NYC in July (2014) and August (2018) respectively, and while Montmelo is warmer in August than in May, it isn’t greatly bad. At least last year that was the case when Montmelo saw high-20s in August for the most part, and no higher than 32 C. There are definitely worst places to be during the Northern Hemisphere-summer months than Montmelo/Barcelona area or Southern Europe in general.

    2. Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
      10th May 2020, 1:06

      @fer-no65 @jerejj While I’d rather go to the track than sunbathe, I have also inadvertently combined the two, I made the rookie error of not staying hydrated. It did not go well.

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