Start, Shanghai International Circuit, 2019

Chinese Grand Prix facing cancellation, five months after ‘postponement’

2020 Chinese Grand Prix

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Formula 1’s Chinese Grand Prix, which was officially “postponed” in February following the Covid-19 outbreak, is facing cancellation.

Earlier this month China’s General Administration of Sport announced all international sporting events, except trials for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, will be called off. F1’s race at the Shanghai International Circuit was originally supposed to take place on April 19th and it has not yet been rescheduled.

The series remains hopeful of gaining an exemption from the national government for China’s round of the world championship to go ahead. However RaceFans understands from a Chinese source the promoter Juss Event has already accepted it will not happen this year.

Formula 1 has already cancelled grands prix in Australia, the Netherlands, Monaco, Azerbaijan, France, Singapore and Japan this year as a result of the global pandemic, which is believed to have originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, around 700 kilometres west of Shanghai.

On Sunday Formula 1 held the third of the 10 races it has confirmed so far on its reorganised 2020 calendar. It is yet to announce which races will take place after the Russian Grand Prix on September 27th, though it aims to hold 15 to 18 races on its final calendar, which it expects to conclude with at least two races in the Middle East in December.

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42 comments on “Chinese Grand Prix facing cancellation, five months after ‘postponement’”

  1. Just get rid of this race from the calendar. It’s nothing special, and the track is boring. It’s arguably the most boring track on the entire calendar.

    1. Also since liberty is based in US they can gain support by cancelling Chinese GP for good.

  2. It isn’t only the chance of getting rescheduled for this year which got under threat due to this decision, but also next year’s event given that the next Winter Olympics aren’t due until February of 2022, so potentially (or quite likely), no Chinese GP next year either.

    1. Chris Horton
      20th July 2020, 19:15

      Good.

      Lets do Imola instead.

      1. Imola 100% gets my vote ++++
        Love that track.

    2. @jerejj The article only states trials for the Winter Olympics being the exception, rather than the final event itself. The trials will occur sometime in December of this year, I believe.

      1. @mashiat Yes, but the trials until that event.

  3. What does Lewis have to say about the Xinjiang and the “Vocational Education and Training Centres” run by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)? More than a million, Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and other ethnic Turkic Muslims, Christians as well as some foreign citizens such as Kazakhstanis,are being held in these secretive internment camps.

    In 2019, United Nations ambassadors from 22 nations, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom signed a letter condemning China’s mass detention of the Uyghurs and other minority groups, urging the Chinese government to close the camps.

    What is Lewis’ take on the matter?

    1. He speaks out on issues he cares about. He is not obliged to care about everything, even as they may be important.
      You find it important, kudos for bringing it up. But this has literally nothing to do with Lewis Hamilton.

      1. @gnosticbrian
        @wpinrui

        Actually Hamilton calls out other people on things he cares about. Seems fair to call him out. Yellow Lives Matter and only Renault supporters them. F1 is not doing enough!

      2. Ivan – Lewis is seeking to imposed his agenda on F1 – hence the Black Power salute.

        F1 is campaigning to end racism – ALL racism. The confinement to what are, in effect, concentration camps of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz etc. by Han Chinese is racist. The occupation and cultural suppression of Tibet by China is racist.

        Lewis will be happy to race in China but will he man up and protest Chinese racism?

  4. what about imola hockenheim portimao????????

    1. Jockey Ewing
      20th July 2020, 20:08

      I like all of them :)

    2. @armando Hockenheim’s climatic conditions later in the autumn are unfavorable for F1.
      Spain has a total of three G1-circuits besides Circuit de Catalunya, so those would be more ideal in October and or November.

      1. Perfect opportunity for a gp with odd weather and track conditions then..

        1. @Kasim Not worth it if it means stone-cold tyres, hence, essentially having to use intermediates on a dry track.

      2. Hockenheim traditionally holds DTM finale in October so I wouldn’t call that impossible.

        1. @bleu DTM isn’t F1. All different, so apples to oranges comparison.

    3. Hockenheim might not be possible [I thought Hockenheim could/would be held on what is now the Russian GP weekend].

      Would be great to have Imola return, but the calendar currently has 2 races maximum per country – Monza and Mugello fill those 2 races.

      I really want to see Portimão added to the calendar :) Portugal 1984 was held in October, and October 2020 has no races scheduled at the moment…

  5. Pity it hasn’t rained at this Grand Prix in a long time as it had a run of good race in the late 00s and early 10s.
    We shouldn’t really be going back while they enact genocide on the Uighurs though.

    1. It did rain on 2018 didn’t it.. now that you mention it, I’m pretty sure they changed the date of the race because of that. Due it raining too often during the weekend. A shame but I guess rain means not ideal conditions for spectators and maybe then tickets.. even if a wet rain is fun to watch

      1. I completely forgot about that one. It’s a pity really as you could usually rely on it to rain and produce something interesting.

      2. Kasim, the race has been held in late April from 2009 onwards, so 2018 did nothing to change the date of the race.

        In it’s original slot in September to October, there were two races which had some wet weather, whilst in its April slot we’ve had at least three wet races – so, in that sense, it’s about as likely to rain now as it was then.

  6. Neil (@neilosjames)
    20th July 2020, 20:03

    I do quite like the Shanghai track, but… I won’t miss it like I would a Silverstone or Spa.

  7. Let’s be honost, only racing in Europe, and perhaps in the middle east, makes sense today. There is no good reason to go any further. It just costs a lot of money to have a TV show at the other side of the world.

    Just stick to the many many great European venues we have. They should be able to race at Jerez, Valencia, Aragon, Portimao, Estoril, Hockenheim, Nürburgring and Imola. I’d even reconsider Zandvoort, Paul Ricard (or Magny Cours) and run these tracks outside their contracts. The only reason why Zandvoort isn’t in the summer calendar, is because they signed for 3 GP’s, and didn’t want lose one if the three to one without public. Just give these GP’s an extra year, so we can have a championship worthy calendar.

    1. @montalvo I’m not sure if that would really work since the Zandvoort and Paul Ricard circuits decided to cancel their events for this year. The latter has ideal climatic conditions for F1 later in the autumn, though, so in this regard, the decision was a bit pity, but fortunately, there are other European-circuits with the same monthly temps, so more than a handful of options including the three Spanish-circuits you brought up, as well as, Estoril alongside Portimao, and Imola. The German-circuits aren’t favorable for F1 in October and or November.

      1. @jerejj Racing in October in Germany shouldn’t be a problem, DTM has ended its seasons in Hockenheim for many years now, as late as 29 October, this year the weekend of 7-8 November is planned for DTM.

        They should be able to plan a German GP in October, perhaps ideally would be;

        4 Oct, Istanbul Park
        18 Oct Hockenheim
        25 Oct Imola
        8 Nov Portimao
        15 Nov Jerez
        29 Nov Bahrain 1
        6 Dec Bahrain 2
        13 Dec Abu Dhabi

        1. @montalvo I copy-paste my reply to @bleu above in case you didn’t notice it before:
          DTM isn’t F1. All different, so apples to oranges comparison.
          Furthermore, F1 definitely is going back to Istanbul Park anytime soon.

    2. Come to Canada, Montreal and Mosport back to back

  8. So far I really like this calendar. 10 races in 3 months seems perfect. All in Europe. Maybe a couple in N America, which is essentially Europe. Next year get some better tracks in.

    1. I don’t understand how North America is essentially Europe? Huh?

      1. @david-beau
        You know – it’s like South America is basically the same as Spain.
        They are all a bit brown and speak pretty much the same language yeah?

      2. Australia does Eurovision, so when considering ‘What is Europe?’ anything is possible :P

    2. @darryn The chances of F1 racing in the Americas this year are remote at best.

  9. Still waiting on them cancelling Vietnam so I can get my refund. The promoters have refused to respond to any emails sent and its not put them in a good light!

    1. same issues with Canada. the promoters and agents there don’t event know the level of serious problems with lawsuits and permanent damage to their reputation that is about to be unleashed lol.

  10. the list of grade one circuits in europe is small but they could easily add 4 to fill the calendar with non-spectator events.

    1. Of the 44 grade 1 circuits around the world, 25 are in Europe (if you include Sochi and Baku). That’s 57% (not a small number)

  11. hasn’t china done enough damage in 2020… F1 looking for more??

  12. Announce it. That’s all

  13. Greg from Houston
    21st July 2020, 16:34

    China lied, people died. #BoycottChina

  14. Really don’t care if China gets cancelled or removed forever.

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