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Opinion

Where does F1 go from here?

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Roar Guru
8th April, 2020
4

With the announcement on Tuesday of the postponement of the Canadian Grand Prix, we now know that the Formula One season will start no earlier than the end of June.

Currently, the French Grand Prix, originally scheduled to be the tenth race of the season, will be held on June 28. Understandably, though, this date is no longer set in stone.

The Monaco Grand Prix definitely won’t be held this year, owing to it being held on a temporary circuit around the streets of Monte Carlo. It’s highly unlikely that we will be heading back to Albert Park, despite the race organisers’ hopes to reschedule the event.

That reduces the season to a maximum of 20 races. However, it would be wrong to even attempt to run 20 races in the final six months of the year. Even that timescale is based on how things stand right now and that is subject to change.

So where does Formula One go from here?

Well, in order for the championship to be declared as being official, eight races need to be held this year. Looking at the current situation, it looks like we will see eight races before the year is out.

The teams have also agreed that the season can continue into early next year, a likely option to be taken.

A similar idea is running a super-season spread across 2020 and 2021. This would allow all 22 races on this year’s calendar to be held. With the postponement of the scheduled change in the regulations next year, the same cars can be used across these two years.

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ROmain Grosjean takes to the streets of Azerbaijan in his Haas

(AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

I like this idea because we could hold all the races planned for 2020 without trying to cram as many races as possible into a short space of time. That could end up being a logistical nightmare. The super-season would ease pressure for all stakeholders.

The only snag is you’d end up with a few spare months at the end of 2021. Exhibition races could be held during those spare months with Ross Brawn, Formula One’s managing director of motorsports, being allowed to try out some of his ideas, including qualifying races.

Another idea that intrigues me is one that has been explored by The Race. This idea is utilising different track layouts and perhaps even racing the track in reverse.

The Race’s Formula One correspondent Scott Mitchell has been driving Silverstone and Spa in reverse on Formula One 2019 and Lando Norris has said that he would be happy to race on reverse layouts. If this were to happen then two races could be held on a weekend with each layout testing the drivers in different ways.

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While this was just a light-hearted suggestion from The Race, I don’t think anything should be off limits at the moment.

Saying that, though, one option that should never be considered is scrapping the season altogether. This would be financially catastrophic and some of the smaller teams may struggle to survive that.

There has already been a significant financial impact to the sport and everything must be done to try and ensure that this impact is minimised as much as possible. McLaren and Williams are just two teams who have implemented pay cuts as well as putting staff on furlough.

Nobody knows for sure what will happen in Formula One in the next few months but there are many options that can be considered and there is plenty of time for decisions to be made.

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