The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has left Formula One on an indefinite hiatus.
With the global situation changing daily, it can be difficult to keep up-to-date with every development. Here’s a guide for the F1 stories you might have read this weekend and the context behind them.
Racing
EXPECTED: The cancellation of the French Grand Prix
An announcement from the French Grand Prix organisers is expected imminently on the status of its June 28 event.
It was thought that the remote Paul Ricard circuit in the South of France — which features its own airstrip for teams to fly in their equipment — would be an ideal place to start the season in a spectator-free event, but President Emmanuel Macron has confirmed that a ban on large public events will continue until July.
UNDER DISCUSSION: The season will start at a behind-closed-doors Austrian Grand Prix in July
The current state of things means that nailing down a start date for the F1 season is impossible. The 2020 calendar as we knew it ahead of the year has been torn up at this point.
Teams are discussing a number of options but are doing so against what is an ever-changing situation.
Austria’s recent relaxation of lockdown restrictions has raised optimism that it can host the first race of the year in early July, according to a BBC report on Friday. The Red Bull Ring is based outside the remote Austrian town of Spielberg. The prospect of holding two or three races the following weekend at Silverstone, home of the British Grand Prix, has also been discussed.
While it’s easy to see the merits of the Austria idea, the state of play in the UK and Italy — where nine of F1’s 10 teams, and tyre supplier Pirelli are based — complicates matters. The UK has extended its lockdown into mid-May, while similar restrictions remain in Italy.
It is hard to imagine teams being allowed to travel en mass from these places while those restrictions are in place.
SPECULATION: The Belgian and Italian GPs are under threat
The Belgian-Italian GP double-header traditionally comes after the August summer break, but both famous races look unlikely to be held on their usual dates.
Belgium has extended a ban on mass public events until September — the Belgian GP was slated for Aug. 30.
Italian GP bosses seem wary of waiting too long to make a decision on its race, with ACI president Angelo Sticchi Damiani pointing to the late cancellation of the Australian Grand Prix in March as fans descended on the Melbourne circuit.
“We can no longer afford to make mistakes like in Australia, when the GP was cancelled with the public already at the track,” Damiani told Gazzetta dello Sport. “That was a setback for everyone, from Liberty Media to the teams to the local organisers. To start again and then be forced to stop would be a disaster.”
Monza’s location on the outskirts of Milan is in the heart of Italy’s worst-hit region, making it hard to imagine the event taking place in early September. Worse still for the organisers of those races is that the European climate leaves limited wiggle-room for F1 in terms of rearranging Belgium’s or Italy’s events much later than October.
CONFIRMED: F1 has until October to go racing again
F1 motorsport boss Ross Brawn has said October is “a drop-dead point” in terms of getting a 2020 season off the ground. If there is no prospect of racing before then, it then becomes likely F1 would cancel the entire season.
Brawn remains confident F1 can hold up to 19 races this year if it gets underway in time. Achieving that figure would depend on holding multiple races on single weekends (like the Silverstone discussion mentioned above). It is also willing to extend the current season into January next year if absolutely necessary.
Of the races that failed to take place so far, only Australia and Monaco are cancelled for good. In an ideal world F1 would reschedule as many of these as possible.
F1 has already agreed to shorten race weekends from three to two days to ease burden on teams, which face the prospect of multiple triple-headers (three races in three consecutive weekends) if a championship season does take place.
Rules
BEING DISCUSSED: NFL draft-style amendments to the budget cap
The current hiatus has brought F1 finances into sharp focus, with the lack of racing meaning a drop in revenue. F1 will implement a budget cap next season, capped at $175 million for every team.
Teams had already agreed to bring that down to $150 million for financial protection next season, but some are pushing for an even greater cut. McLaren wants it reduced to $100 million for next season. Team principal Andreas Seidl has said the current crisis should be the “final wake-up call for a sport which was [already] unhealthy before.”
The reduction is likely to be much less substantial, with the BBC discussions around a $145 million cap for 2021, which is then reduced to $130 million for the following season.
There have also been talks of implementing rules to keep the playing field as levelled as possible with an NFL draft-style system based on finishing position, meaning the team which finished first in the championship is allowed to do the least aerodynamic car research for the following season and the team that finished last is allowed to do the most.
Two budget caps?
Ferrari has argued there should be two budget caps — one for the genuine constructor teams and another for those who buy parts in from others. Red Bull boss Christian Horner has suggested smaller teams buy entire chassis from bigger teams to drive their costs down. These two points show the breadth of opinion and discussion currently going on about the future of the sport.
However, like with the discussions over when to start the season, at the moment these are still ideas being thrown out. An agreement over the specifics of the budget cap for 2021 and 2022 is likely to take a while longer yet.
LIKELY: An extension to F1’s factory shutdown
The factory shutdown, which was brought forward from its usual time slot of the August summer break, looks set to be extended again beyond April.
The shutdown will be lifted only six weeks before the opening race of the season, meaning it is effectively indefinite until F1 manages to secure an opening race. This highlights why it is so important for F1 to be making long-term contingency plans on a number of different scenarios.
CONFIRMED: F1’s big rule change delayed, development frozen
This is “old” news now but still relevant to all the other discussions taking place.
The coronavirus pandemic prompted F1 to push the massive change to its technical regulations back from 2021 to 2022, to ensure teams aren’t forced to spend money on developing two cars at this point.
Cost-cutting measures include a freeze on car development for 2020 and 2021, meaning the cars we saw in preseason testing are unlikely to change much over what could be two world championship seasons.
Teams
ONGOING: Project Pit Lane and other ventures
F1 teams have played a big role in helping local health authorities fight the coronavirus. Mercedes has repurposed its F1 engine facility in Brixworth to focus on producing the breathing aid it reverse-engineered with university College London in 10 days. The factory is producing 1,000 units a day.
F1’s seven UK-based teams are also engaged in ‘Project Pit Lane’ and are looking to produce 20,000 ventilators.
Ferrari’s Maranello factory is now building respirator valves and fittings for protective masks to help the fight against the coronavirus in Italy, which remains one of the world’s worst-hit countries.
The Agnelli family, who control the Ferrari F1 team and road car business as well as FIAT Chrysler and the Juventus football club, have made a 10-million-Euro donation and announced a series of measures across the country, including sourcing 150 ventilators and providing vehicles to the Italian Red Cross.
CONFIRMED: Furloughs and pay cuts
UK-based teams have taken advantage of the government’s scheme to pay for 80% of salaries for staff who are put on an enforced period of leave, known as furlough.
McLaren, Williams, Racing Point, Renault and Haas have furloughed the majority of staff working at their UK factories. On each occasion, any staff remaining on to work do so on a reduced salary. The drivers of each team are believed to have taken a reduced salary, including Daniel Ricciardo at Renault, who is believed to be on $25 million a year.
Formula One has also furloughed 50% of its staff until the end of May. Senior management are taking at least a 20% cut in salary, although F1 CEO Chase Carey is likely to take a much larger cut voluntarily.