Lewis Hamilton has said the prospect of taking part in a Formula One race without fans leaves him with an “empty feeling”, but the six-time champion agreed it is better than no racing at all.
The first 10 races of the 2020 F1 season have been either postponed or cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the sport targeting a return to racing at the Austrian Grand Prix on July 5.
The race would take place behind closed doors, with F1 aiming to create a “biosphere” to protect the limited number of team members and officials from infection.
F1 drivers were briefed on the plans on Thursday and Hamilton said it would be strange to go racing without any fans in the grandstands.
“It gave me a really empty feeling because the fans really make that race,” he told Mercedes’ YouTube channel.
“Around the world, all the races we go to, the more fans there are the more atmosphere we have — that’s why places like Silverstone and Monza [are so good].
“It’s going to be very empty, but what’s great [about a return to racing] is that I’m getting a lot of messages from people around the world at the moment who are struggling because they are not getting to watch sports and it just shows how significant sport is in people’s lives — it brings us all together and it is so exciting and captivating. I don’t know how exciting it is going to be for people watching on TV, but it’s going to be better than nothing.
“For us it is going to be like a test day, probably even worse than a test day in a sense because at a test day there are not a huge amount of people that come to watch, but there are still some and here you will have nobody in the crowd and just empty seats as you are driving down.
“But racing is racing. I don’t think any of us have had time to truly unleash the potential of our cars, so I am excited to get back in and I really do miss it.”
Hamilton revealed he had split his time in lockdown between training, learning French and occasionally playing video games against fellow F1 drivers Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc.
He added that there had been some positives in isolating and that he was focused on making sure his downtime had a positive impact on his long-term future in the sport.
“I’m generally a very quiet person, so I do enjoy my time and it’s really important for us all to have that,” he added.
“It’s been nice to be bothered too much and have a bit of that time, but I miss seeing my team and miss seeing my friends as everyone does.
“I looked at it in the beginning, and there have been times in the last five years or so when I have thought to myself that it would be good for my body and mind to take a rest for a year, but I don’t think it’s ever a good thing for an athlete in their prime to take a year and step back. Technology moves so fast and at such a rate, you need to stay on top of the car and develop it, so to take a sabbatical is just not on the cards.
“But we have been handed a part sabbatical, which I am enjoying and I feel fresher and healthier than I have ever been and the struggle for everyone is keeping the mind clear because some days you sluggish and others you are positive and that’s really the key, remain centred, find things that you enjoy doing that perhaps you didn’t have time to in the past, and not waste this time.
“That’s the important thing, not to waste this time.”