F1 supremos plan on having 15-18 races in coronavirus-hit season, confirms CEO Chase Carey
FORMULA ONE CEO Chase Carey says the sport is committed to putting on between 15 and 18 races this season - despite the coronavirus crisis.
The pandemic has seen the opening eight F1 races this season either postponed or cancelled.
F1 have responded by moving the two-week summer break to April and now, in an open letter, Carey says they will revise the calendar to fit in as many races as possible until the end of the year.
It is hoped that the Canadian GP - scheduled for June 14 - would be the race that finally kicked off the season.
The letter said: "Over the past week, Formula 1, the ten F1 teams and the FIA have come together and taken rapid, decisive action as part of our initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"While at present no-one can be certain of exactly when the situation will improve, it will improve and when it does, we will be ready to go racing again.
"We are all committed to bringing our fans a 2020 championship season.
"We recognise there is significant potential for additional postponements in currently scheduled events, none the less we and our partners fully expect the season to start at some point this summer, with a revised calendar of between 15-18 races.
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"As previously announced we will utilise the summer break being brought forward to March/April, to race during the normal summer break period and anticipate the season end date will extend beyond our original end date of 29th November, with the actual sequence and schedule dates for races differing significantly from our original 2020 calendar.
"It is not possible to provide a more specific calendar now due to the fluidity of the current situation but we expect to gain clearer insights to the situation in each of our host countries, as well as the issues related to travel to these countries, in the coming month.
"With the benefit of the FIA's announcement and agreement in principle to freeze technical regulations throughout 2021, no summer break and factory shut downs being moved forward to March/April the sport now intends to race through the period normally set aside for the summer break and fulfil lost events from the first part of this year.
"This flexibility offers an opportunity to evolve the sport, experiment and try new things.
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"That may include initiatives such as expanding our esports platform, developing more innovative content like Netflix Drive to Survive and other creative ways to drive ongoing value for the sport's sponsor partners, broadcast partners, race promoters, teams and fans -- the ecosystem of our fantastic sport.
"Between Formula 1, the teams and the FIA, working with our key stakeholders, we are planning and fully committed to returning to the track at the earliest opportunity to commence the 2020 season and will continue to take advice from health officials and experts, as our first priority continues to be the safety and health of our fans, the communities we visit and those within the Formula 1 family.
"We're confident we'll all get through this and see better days ahead and, when we do, we will ensure that everyone invested in this sport at every level feels rewarded."