THE F1 COVID THREAD: Will GP be cancelled?

[Moneyseeker]

This is kind of about money again (sorry Adam!) but what happenes if by Silverstone the government relaxes a bit the social distancing for large events but still maintains the 2m distance rule - Silverstone would have to close the grandstands or block off two seats between and behind each seat.

This would mean refund tens of thousands of tickets holders, but not actually cancelling it and being able to claim off the insurance (I know the same will apply to football). Sadly what we are going through now will (for a while) make some people suspicious of others, if they think you look ill or might cough!

I wonder if it will hit advanced ticket sales for events in general next year?

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[peebee2]

Originally Posted by Moneyseeker

This would mean refund tens of thousands of tickets holders, but not actually cancelling it and being able to claim off the insurance (I know the same will apply to football).

Nice idea, but 99.9% of insurance won’t cover anyway, as Covid-19 is an ‘Act of God’ and as such a standard exclusion.

[Moneyseeker]

India has announced a total lockdown of its population and WHO warned that USA may be the new global centre of the pandemic - so I guess that is the US GP off the lost and probably Canada.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Moneyseeker

In denial, sounded more like a statement for shareholders to me.

Agreed

18 races in probably 5 and a half months including December which realistically has only 2 usable weekends? Really?

Dont forget had flyaways in the early sixties with the SA GP run between Christmas and New Year.
(I also agree that their target number of races its a bit of a pipe dream)

[S griffin]

Mind you in the early 60s we usually had big gaps between WC GPs. Of course we had a few NC races too in those days

[Moneyseeker]

Franz Tost saying he believes no F1 until July - no Canada or France - nothing official though.


"Nobody can really say when the season will start," f1-insider.com quoted Franz Tost. "But the earliest will be July."

Canada can't start on the circuit as all non-essential work has been stopped currently until 13th April and it needs 3 months to build it - the race is 14th June..

[S griffin]

Canada’s GP promoters are sure their race will go ahead

[Moneyseeker]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Canada’s GP promoters are sure their race will go ahead

I think the word he used was optimistic - which is not the same as sure.

[Adam43]

How can they lie like that? It’ll all be down to money. They might as well say they are confident they can defy gravity

[crmalcolm]

How about we have a serious look at what has actually been said?

On their website, there is a banner that reads:
'The preparations for the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix 2020 slated in the Formula 1 World Championship for June 12,13 and 14 are going well and are following their course. This is a situation that we are constantly monitoring and that is evolving rapidly. Please note that we are in constant communication with members of Formula 1, the FIA and public authorities. Our priority remains to host a safe event for both spectators and personnel.

Should the situation continue to evolve we will lean on the expertise of public health professionals and will keep you updated.'

And in reported comments:
'We would have to make a decision by Easter weekend [...] if the situation has improved by then, we could have the site ready on schedule. [...] we have the track. We're optimistic but we also know things change by the hour, so we're also realistic.'

So I would not say they are 'sure' it is going ahead, but they do not need to postpone/cancel the race yet.

[chillibowl]

my take is that it is pretty much the standard and correct response every business is currently issuing.

i think we need to appreciate that we are all at different stages of dealing with this crisis and/or how we are interpreting the relentless wave of headline news being thrown our way. each of us is going to look at things through our own lenses.

as for Canada...our Olympic sporting body (which i am assuming is the top sporting association in the country) was the first (maybe 2nd) to pull our athletes from the Olympics...i dont know if that has any bearing on other sporting federations and auto clubs in Canada or even if their sanctioning is required for other sporting events.

would Lance Stroll, racing under a Canadian licence, face repercussions if he was to compete during this time? are other driver's affected by their own nations' sporting charters?

i may be connecting dots that dont go together, but my personal feeling would be that if we aren't letting our athletes go to the Olympics in July then no sporting events are getting sanctioned domestically in June.

anyways, these things are not as simple as one person saying 'its a go'. lots of stakeholders and complexities to manage in a rapidly escalating disaster.

ultimately, i think the sports world will need to come together and collectively manage/organize every sports' simultaneous return. i wont say it will be out of altruism but rather they will all need to coordinate their venue and TV schedules with a public that will most likely have much less in the way of disposable income to spread around.

also this is Canada...no way an F1 race gets sanctioned before the return of the NHL/Hockey season.

[Adam43]

Quite. A bit of slack is required for all these people in the sport. Things change quickly and they should try to be optimistic, but they are we all know that further postponements and cancellations may happen.

That applies for drivers, teams, races organisers, series organisers and governments.

[S griffin]

They are pretty much in a rock and a hard place at the moment. What do they do? Call everything off and be safe or try to leave the door open in case the situation improves? I think they are right to do the latter, especially when you have commercial deals and contracts to think about

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

also this is Canada...no way an F1 race gets sanctioned before the return of the NHL/Hockey season.

Can't argue with those priorities, to be honest.....

[Adam43]

https://www.formula1.com/en/racing/2020.html
Added a vote for F1’s latest calendar (first race on calendar that is not cancelled or postponed).

[chillibowl]

there will never be another GP!

i love that.

i will guess Belgium. if the calendar stays as is i think we are all back to normal by September/fall.

[S griffin]

I can think of a lot worse places to start than Spa

[Moneyseeker]

Apparently Silverstone need to make a decision on if the BGP can run by mid-April to have time to prepare for GP. With the virus escalating in the UK I can't see the government lifting the social distancing, so we will probably see the BGP postponed.

Canada and France also unlikely IMO.

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[Adam43]

I'm meant to be going to that Not sure I'd be able to get into the country let alone get to the GP.

[S griffin]

Not good times, but I am more concerned about getting through this pandemic before thinking about any further GPs, as much as I miss having F1 or motorsport or any sport really on the TV

[Armco Bender]

The way the virus is ravaging Italy Ferrari will have some difficulty finding any country to welcome them in this year.

[Alan52]

Originally Posted by Armco Bender

The way the virus is ravaging Italy Ferrari will have some difficulty finding any country to welcome them in this year.

One thing that has occurred to me is that countries will be very careful to relax physical distancing rules for some time as they will be concerned it might start a new outbreak.
They will be even much more careful about scrapping border restrictions for the same reason.
I can see things like football leagues and domestic motor racing starting long before international series like F1.

[Moneyseeker]

Originally Posted by Alan52

One thing that has occurred to me is that countries will be very careful to relax physical distancing rules for some time as they will be concerned it might start a new outbreak.

They will be even much more careful about scrapping border restrictions for the same reason.

I can see things like football leagues and domestic motor racing starting long before international series like F1.

I saw a university professor make that very point on TV last week, he said if a government choosing the 'lockdown' is a hard decision, ending it is harder because you will always be nervous of the risk of it starting up again and all the public cooperation and huge government investment in supporting the economy risks being wasted.

Interestingly, population apparently getting restless in Italy as some start to run out of food and money and the public see no real improvement in the situation despite the lockdown.

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[S griffin]

It’s a tricky situation if a lockdown isn’t making much difference, people will start thinking what’s the point. That must be how they are feeling in Italy, especially if they are eager to get out again. Hopefully though it will be more effective here, so we can get back to normal in good time

[Armco Bender]

The problem is after lock down you cant then have people flying all over the place reinfecting everyone all over again.