Formula 1 has officially announced its first eight races of the 2020 season, with the competition commencing on 5 July at The Red Bull Ring, Austria.
The Austrian Grand Prix will feature two races followed by the Hungarian Grand Prix before traveling to Silverstone where the race track will also host two events. Other races confirmed are the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona and Belgian Grand Prix, with the Italian Grand Prix at Monza being the last confirmed event on 6 September.
Chase Carey, Chairman and CEO of Formula 1, stated: “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.”
Along with the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the organisers have also confirmed that the races will be supported by Formula 2 and Formula 3.
Moreover, F1 and the FIA have emphasised that the health and safety of all participants involved will continue to be priority number one as both companies initiate detailed plans to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
Whilst only eight races have been confirmed, the revised F1 schedule is expected to host around 15-18 races with the Grand Prix’s expected to branch out of Europe.
