When is next F1 Grand Prix going to be held? Full 2020 schedule confirmed including TWO races at Silverstone
FORMULA ONE is set to roar back with the first eight race of the 2020 calendar confirmed, including two at Silverstone with the season restarting in Austria on July 5.
Formula One was looking ahead to a fine campaign when the world of sport was brought to a halt in March - but now fans can finally start getting excited about action again.
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When will the season start?
Formula 1 confirmed today that the 2020 season will begin in Austria next month.
With the first 10 races were cancelled due to the outbreak of the coronavirus and the FIA have been working to put a plan together.
The season will kick of on July 5, at the Red Bull Ring, with the second race following a week later at the same venue.
The Hungarian Grand Prix will take place a week later on July 19 followed by a one week break.
After the break there will be two back-to-back races at Silverstone in the UK on August 2 and August 9, with the Spanish Grand Prix being held in Barcelona after that on August 16.
Following the Spanish Grand Prix, the Belgian Grand Prix (August 30) and Italian Grand Prix at Monza will take place (September 6).
All the races will be supported by Formula 2 and Formula 3.
Confirmed Formula 1 2020 Calendar So Far
1. Austria - Red Bull Ring - July 5
2. Austria - Red Bull Ring - July 12
3. Hungary - Hungaroring - July 19
4. Britain - Silverstone - August 2
5. Britain - Silvertone - August 9
6. Spain - Barcelona-Catalunya - August 16
7. Belgium - Spa - August 30
8. Italy - Monza - September 6
F1 chief executive Chase Corey outlined the first part of the calendar of races. He said: “In the past weeks we have been working tirelessly with all our partners, the FIA and the teams to create a revised opening 2020 calendar allowing us to restart racing in the safest possible way.
"We are pleased to be able to set out our opening eight race calendar today and look forward to publishing our full calendar in the coming weeks.
"I want to thank every promoter and partner for their support and ongoing commitment to Formula 1.
"While we currently expect the season to commence without fans at our races we hope that over the coming months the situation will allow us to welcome them back once it is safe to do, but we know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world.”
A tentative plan was outlined previously to teams by F1 bosses at a meeting on Thursday April 16 where proposals to reduce the sport’s budget cap to $130m (£104.6m) by 2022 were also discussed.
Stuart Pringle, the circuit’s managing director, confirmed the plans saying: “We have discussed all sorts of permutations including hosting two races over one weekend and two races over consecutive weekends.''
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What races have been affected due to coronavirus?
The Australian Grand Prix was cancelled after McLaren went into self-isolation and Lewis Hamilton complained about the race going ahead.
While the Chinese Grand Prix was postponed in mid-February with the Shanghai circuit located just 500 miles from Wuhan - where the coronavirus outbreak began.
F1 bosses have insisted that they will try to find room for it in the calendar for the rest of the year, but with 22 races scheduled, this could be unlikely.
The inaugural Vietnam GP has now also been cancelled, despite attempts to keep it on the original date of April 5.But with the Hanoi track being just 100 miles from the border of China, it was always unlikely to go ahead.
The second race of the season - Bahrain - was also postponed, having initially been set to take place behind closed doors.
The Government of Bahrain had already revealed any foreign nationals who have visited Italy, Singapore and Hong Kong - among others - in the 14 days prior to travelling to Bahrain were not allowed entry.
This was putting any teams travelling to Singapore and Hong Kong on their way to Australia in doubt, along with the two Italian teams.
The loss of the Singapore GP and Azerbaijan GP is a blow to F1 chiefs, Liberty Media, but the logistics involved in construction a street circuit during the coronavirus pandemic are proving too difficult to overcome.
F1 chiefs could host more European races after being forced to scrap the Grand Prixs in Japan, Singapore and Azerbaijan.
Japanese GP bosses at Suzuka were confident of hosting their race in October but that too has been shelved due to travel restrictions being in place.
It was revealed on March 19 that the Monaco, Dutch and Spanish GP's had all been scrapped, with the race in Azerbaijan following on March 23.
The Canadian Grand Prix then fell on April 8.
On April 27, the French Grand Prix (originally set for June 28) was officially cancelled because of the country's ban on major events until mid-July.