Formula 1 calls off all three races in May, season to start in Baku

2020 F1 season

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Formula 1’s planned May races at Zandvoort, the Circuit de Catalunya and Monaco have all been called off.

The championship hopes to announce new dates for the Dutch, Spanish and Monaco grands prix later in the year.

“In view of the continued global spread of Covid-19 and after ongoing discussions with Formula 1 and the three promoters, it has today been confirmed that the Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix 2020, Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix 2020 and Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix 2020 will be postponed,” said the FIA in a statement.

“Due to the ongoing and fluid nature of the Covid-19 situation globally, the FIA, Formula 1 and the three promoters have taken these decisions in order to ensure the health and safety of the travelling staff, championship participants and fans, which remains our primary concern.”

The latest adjustments to the calendar as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic mean the season is now set to begin with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku on June 7th.

“The FIA and Formula 1 expect to begin the 2020 championship season as soon as it is safe to do so after May and will continue to regularly monitor the ongoing Covid-19 situation,” the statement added.

The announcement will also affect Formula 2, which was due to support all three rounds, and Formula 3, which was scheduled to run in the Netherlands and Spain.

The Spanish Grand Prix promoters announced all tickets for their race “will continue to be valid without any additional formality” and that “as soon as the new date of the grand prix is confirmed all spectators will be informed accordingly about the available options.”

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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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24 comments on “Formula 1 calls off all three races in May, season to start in Baku”

  1. Unsurprising, but it still stings to see official confirmation of the dates being pushed out.

    Baku, Canada, France – anyone taking any bets on how long before we get that announcement? :(

    1. Probably a day after @dieterrencken posts his next calendar prediction article ;)
      @phylyp

      1. @coldfly – LOL :)

        Stay safe, man. Still can’t fly out, eh?

        1. Knowing my luck, I’d be worse off if I decided to move now (they gave us 4 days to decide). @phylyp
          We know what we have here, and no real complaints from my side. I miss my long runs but make up for it with other exercises.

          1. @coldfly – good to know you’re making the most of it. Take care.

  2. Could you guys do me a favor and update the calendar feed to reflect the cancellations, or postponements if/when those happen? Thanks!

  3. It took both China and South Korea three months just to get the daily number of new cases under control. It will take us in Europe at least as long, and our battle has only really just begun. So you’re looking at the middle of June. But in their haste to get the some sort of season going, Formula One management, and many fans alike, are not accounting for the fact that trying to go back to normal as soon as the numbers stabilize, could give the outbreak a second lease of life. So you have to add at least another month on, and you end up in the middle of July. But it could easily be later than that – by which point it will really be to late to have a proper championship season out of it. People need to start being more realistic about this, I’m afraid.

      1. +3. Season will be lucky to see 10 rounds. May as well try and merge the last few races of this year into 2021 to make a superseason, or something.

    1. I agree they are unlikely to get going by July. But there is still time after that. Even say if they started season in September, 3 races per month and 1 in December makes a 10 race calendar. Liberty will make some kind of championship happen this year if at all possible there is too much money at stake for them not to.

  4. At this point there should be just one super season; what remains from 2020-2021, keeping the same cars. This way teams will save on some money and get ready better for the new 2022 rules

    1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
      19th March 2020, 17:47

      Yeah carrying a single season these 2 years makes sense. Especially teams would appreciate that instead of triple or quadruple headers this year. If they can only run, let’s say, 5 races this year, space all the remaining ones next year in a more sensible way.

  5. ”The championship hopes to announce new dates for the Dutch, Spanish and Monaco grands prix later in the year.”
    – How do they expect they could realistically re-schedule Monaco for a later part of the year? I also have my doubts about Spain since the only realistic options for it are the original summer-break weekends in August and the weekend after Austria. The Spanish GP-promoter previously made quite clear his un-openness towards racing in the European-summer (or September). Monaco, as is clear, the logistical and infrastructural-aspects make it effectively impossible to re-schedule, so it’s virtually a lost-case for this year along with Australia.

  6. Just wondering, but why they didn’t just take a break for a year & focused to 2021 instead with the updated version of this season’s cars..?

    1. There is also a danger that we get a second or third wave of cases, with or without mutations like flu. Get as many races done as soon as you can as you won’t be able to guarantee 2021 will be disruption free either

  7. If I’m not mistaken, this should be the first year without the Monaco Grand Prix since 1953. A further underlying of how serious the matters are.

    1. Yeah, geez, really serious, it’s almost like people are dying.

    2. @pironitheprovocateur there was no Monaco Grand Prix in 1954 either.

  8. Canada closed its borders to all foreigners.
    Baku suspended all visas.
    And FIA and F1 plan on 18 races. How stupid is that?

    1. Very.

  9. Correction: EARLIEST SEASON MAY START IS BAKU.
    But this is highly unlikely.

    1. @hohum – Exactly.

      Prediction: Season will NOT start in Baku. At least not for 2020.

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