The new Formula 1 calendar: A positive incentive or will it remain at 8 races?

The new calendar

With the first eight races on the calendar, Formula 1 seems to be able to bring a championship worthy season to its feet. With double races in Austria and Great Britain, the calendar will be supplemented by Italy, Belgium, Spain and Hungary.

The Dutch Grand Prix, those of Monaco, France and Australia have been officially cancelled and the race in Canada is also highly uncertain. Abu Dhabi and Bahrain seem to be the big contenders for a race in December, since there the coronavirus has not yet had a huge impact on the local population.

Which options are still available

In between, however, there are plenty of options. Monza has already suggested to organize a double race in Italy and Mugello is also open to this possibility. In addition, Hockenheim is also involved in a possible return, but that only seems to be a possibility if other races are cancelled.

On the calendar there are still races in Singapore, Russia, Azerbaijan, Japan, China, United States, Mexico, Brazil and Vietnam. However, Russia, America, Mexico and Brazil have been greatly affected by the coronavirus, making it questionable whether they want to bring a big event like F1 to the country.

Lots of losers

Singapore also has the disadvantage that the whole city has to be turned into a circuit, without any fans present. This is a big disadvantage, because contrary to existing circuits it costs more money to organize all this. Of course, this problem also applies to the new circuit of Vietnam.

Japan cancelled the MotoGP race on 18 October, while a week before that the F1 race is scheduled. Can this be done, is the question of course? In that respect, China is still the most peaceful location at the moment, but as the original hotbed of the virus, it doesn't seem to be possible to open the door again just like that.

Positive stimulus

So after the eight races there are still many countries possible as the next race, but it is also logical that F1 wants to wait a while. What are the developments around the coronavirus in the different countries and what is the effect of the various relaxations all over the world. As long as not everything has to go into a lockdown again, there are opportunities to race more often.

The first European calendar is therefore far from being a complete calendar, but more of a start to show that it is possible to race in countries without influencing the number of infections. If this is a good result, countries might be able to open up their borders more easily to the travelling circus that is F1.