This weekend should have been the 10th rounds of the 2020 F1 season. Instead, we’re 10 days away from the long-delayed start of the first official practice session.
But the season will be very different from the one which was supposed to begin in Australia three months ago. The disruption caused by the pandemic has affected the series in many obvious ways and some which may not be as immediately apparent.
Calendar
The most obvious change to the face of F1 in 2020 is the structure of the calendar. In addition to the postponement or cancellation of the first 10 races, a further two rounds (Singapore and Japan) have also been scrapped.Out of the first eight races F1 has already confirmed, only three are in their original sequence. The season will open with the Austrian Grand Prix in its original July 5th slot, but between then and the unchanged Belgian and Italian race dates (August 30th and September 6th) the races have moved around.
The Hungarian Grand Prix will therefore be held on its earliest-ever date of July 19th, while the British Grand Prix moves to an unfamiliar August date. Neither are likely to see massively different temperatures as a result of these changes.
However Spain’s round has been moved three months from May to August. We can therefore expect a considerably hotter race at the Circuit de Catalunya: Average temperatures for the region in August are in the 18-33C band compared to 11-27C in May.
Where F1 will race beyond those opening eight races remains to be seen. However championship organisers appear to have firm plans to end the season with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina, albeit in December instead of November, precede by the postponed Bahrain Grand Prix. Expect an announcement on what races will be held between now and the first race weekend.
It would be a highly unusual state of affairs if F1 were to begin its season without having confirmed which races will be held and when. But the uncertainties arising from the pandemic mean F1 may be powerless to prevent further disruption to the calendar.
The teams have already been through a much longer factory shutdown than usual, and will forego their usual summertime break. Once the season begins, F1 will no doubt aim for as few further interruptions as possible. After all, a late calendar change could have a serious effect on the outcome of the championship.
What will the final length of the championship be? Even a 15-race calendar would be F1’s shortest for 37 years.
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Drivers
Sebastian Vettel will therefore start his sixth and final season at Ferrari. His replacement, Carlos Sainz Jnr, will depart McLaren and Daniel Ricciardo will take his seat after a second year at Renault.
Where Vettel will go, and who Renault will appoint in Ricciardo’s place, are the two major questions the driver market has produced during the hiatus.
F1 has indicated it will not call off races if any drivers test positive for Covid-19. Teams will therefore need to ensure they have reserve drivers on standby in case they are needed.
Teams
The financial impact of the pandemic has been felt by the teams. This is most clearly the case at Williams, which has announced it is seeking fresh investment. It has also split from title sponsor Rokit and will appear in a revised livery when the championship begins.
Williams are not the only team feeling the pinch, however. McLaren have announced thousands of job cuts across their group, though only a comparatively small number will come from their F1 team.
Engines
Therefore teams will have the option of taking new engines in time for the high-demand races at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza.
Tyres
Pirelli has confirmed its tyre choices for the opening eight races. The C2, C3 and C4 compounds – excluding the hardest C1 and softest C5 – will be seen at six of those races.
F1’s official tyre supplier has nominated its hardest tyre mix for two races: The first Silverstone event and Spa. Bringing the softer tyre selection to the second Silverstone race may provide some variety at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.
Interestingly, it has not nominated its hardest tyre selection for Spa, where some of F1’s highest peak tyre loadings are recorded.
F1 also has the power to require teams to conduct tests of additional specification of tyres during the final 30 minutes of second practice.
Rules
Extensive rules changes have been introduced in order to allow ‘Closed Events’ to go ahead behind closed doors while observing social distancing procedures. Teams are still getting to grips with exactly how these will affect the competition. For example, after conducting a test at Silverstone, Racing Point realised that completing a power unit change could now take twice as long as before.
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Development
They will have to redevelop their existing chassis, however, as the rear floor regulations are being changed for next year in a way which will have a significant effect upon their existing aerodynamics.
Inevitably, how far each team can afford to continue developing their current cars while also working on their changes for next year will be a question of what resources they have at their disposal.
Penalty points
As the season will begin almost four months later than originally planned, some drivers have had penalty points deducted from their licenses in the meantime. Daniel Ricciardo has lost the most:
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2020 F1 season
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BasCB (@bascb)
23rd June 2020, 13:08
Yeah, it has pretty much thrown the organisation of the season, the travel scheme, race procedures and the usual wrangling over rules on the head already.
And who knows where it goes. I guess we should be enjoying what we get for now, and hope to get more.
Jere (@jerejj)
23rd June 2020, 13:58
Concerning the race calendar-topic: First about the rescheduled Spanish GP: Last year, the highest ambient temps on the equivalent days of August in the Montmelo area were 28, 30, and 29 C respectively. In May, it’s usually varied from low to mid-20s, so not as considerably increase as there’s probably going to be in the track temp.
As for the remainder of the Championship-schedule beyond Monza:
So far, seven from the original race calendar lost for this year, and at least six more could also end up in this category. I’m most looking forward to finding out Hanoi’s ultimate fate, and Montreal’s with the latter being 99% guaranteed of not going ahead this year, and yet still not formally cancelled, which I find weird given the near-certainty of that primarily due to climatic reasons.
Jere (@jerejj)
23rd June 2020, 14:00
‘Not as considerable increase’
I altered my wording a bit before posting and forgot to change ‘considerably’ to ‘considerable’ when placing ‘increase’ to follow it.
MXMXD (@mxmxd)
23rd June 2020, 19:11
Lots of local (Montreal-based) reports to the effect that the Canadian GP will be held from Oct. 9th to Oct. 12.
Jere (@jerejj)
24th June 2020, 18:39
@mxmxd Yes, I read an article about this from today’s round-up. At this point, I don’t buy into it any more than into the report about Portimao having two races on both September 27 and October 4 since they’re both local-reports rather than coming from the relevant parties within F1.
Nevertheless, it’d be a mistake to have Montreal on October 11 due to how cold October in Montreal generally is with the highest daytime ambient temp tending to vary from around 10 C to 15 C.
It’d be better to focus on the circuits that have more favorable climatic-conditions for F1 later in the autumn, be it having two races at Sochi Autodrom, rescheduling Shanghai (and possibly still Hanoi, although unlikely), and or adding Portimao and maybe also Jerez.
Robert
24th June 2020, 0:41
I’m not fully sure about the full impact on the performance of the cars, but as a northern European a rise from 23-ish to 28-ish degrees ambient temperature is huge. It’s just 5 degrees difference, but at 23 I’m all good and comfortable while 28 makes me sweat constantly just sitting down. If I where in a physically demanding position, such as driving a racecar for a couple of hours, or working flat out at assembling a car in the pits, I would call it “considerable”… :)
Jere (@jerejj)
24th June 2020, 18:30
@Robert I don’t really feel the difference of 5 degrees from 23 to 28. I’m a Northern European as well. Where I live, I’ve recently got to enjoy more or less all of the 20s from the low-20s to the high-20s, and figures like 22 or 23 have made me feel equally sweaty just being indoors as have figures above 25. People are different, but I generally don’t regard a gap of 5 massive. Nevertheless, being in August is still most likely going to have a greater impact on the track temperatures compared to May than to the ambient ones. Yes, a rise in both the track and air temps, but a more considerable rise in the former compared to the original date.
frood19 (@frood19)
24th June 2020, 7:13
There’s an error in the tyres section – I presume it’s meant to say the hardest tyres will be brought to Silverstone and Spain not spa.