THE F1 COVID THREAD: Will GP be cancelled?

[el_cat]

And Portimao is Grade 1 - so whether teams think it’s “too bumpy” or not, it’s certified race ready. If there was a desire and the money to put a race on, it would be happening.

I don’t buy into this “too bumpy” anyway. That’s just a variable that teams would have to deal with. I don’t hear any complaints about Monza being “too straight” or Monaco “a bit narrow”

[peebee2]

I remember being there with FR3.5.

One team alone did £30k in floors in one weekend.

There was a big step in the track in line with the main grandstand.

I think they fixed it but then it sunk again, due to the grandstand slowly sinking and taking the ground around it with it.

Great track but drive it in anything stiff and the car is virtually wrecked.

Anyway if they were allowed to travel, which I’m not do sure about, there are two Grade One tracks in Portugal and four in Spain, plus a handful of Grade Two tracks, currently licenced for F1 group testing.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Armco Bender

Surprised F1 hasn't come up with decent virtual racing with all the drivers competing.
I can watch NASCAR,Indycars and V8 Supercars with all their drivers competing.

There is the IMSA iRacing Pro Series as well.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by el_cat

But the rule book says the circuit must be Grade 1, and Supplement 2 of Appendix O of the FIA regs say that F1 can only run on circuits of 3.5km minimum length (with Monaco being granted an exemption for obvious rea$ons).

So as it stands, there is no alternative Silverstone layout that can meet Grade 1, and it would be a very brave man who changes a hard-baked safety regulation for convenience

Maybe the FIA would be prepared to re-write the rules, in what are exceptional circumstances?

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by peebee2

You only need Grade 1 because of the crowds really, Grade 2 would be ok if behind closed doors.

So frankly I have tried to determine if there is published specifications that defines exactly what is required to make a circuit grade 1, 1T, 2, etc. and I can find no definitive answer. As I think I saw it posted somewhere else, speculation is, how they do this is actually not defined on purpose to give FIA some level of creative flexibility on circuit grade designations! I suppose they know a grade 1 when they see it! In reality, I expect there are some unwritten rules on what is required for grade 1, etc.

I did find a mention that part of grade 1 was more than just track design, but also the ability to support crowds, etc. So that implies some potential for a less than grade 1 being used. But they also mentioned support for media and medical center. If the race is to be broadcast, then it would require full media support and the medical center would be deemed a safety issue and nothing less than "standard" would likely be acceptable from a safety perspective.

Originally Posted by el_cat

But the rule book says the circuit must be Grade 1, and Supplement 2 of Appendix O of the FIA regs say that F1 can only run on circuits of 3.5km minimum length (with Monaco being granted an exemption for obvious rea$ons).

So as it stands, there is no alternative Silverstone layout that can meet Grade 1, and it would be a very brave man who changes a hard-baked safety regulation for convenience

I also find discussion of things like running circuits backwards, etc. completely puzzling. I think those ideas are floated by those who have no idea of the changes to make that happen. Generally speaking many safety measures are geared for one direction only and would require significant changes (time and money) to allow opposite direction travel.

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Maybe the FIA would be prepared to re-write the rules, in what are exceptional circumstances?

Which would they rewrite? Given the rules are vague and documents mentioned by el_cat above, while they don't say exactly what the different is between a grade 1 and 2, parts of the document implies it is related to power to weight ratio. That clearly has to be part of a safety equation (not published). I can't see them compromising on safety. What is the argument for that? "We have closed thinks down for safety reasons, so we are relaxing safety requirements?" Why is suddenly a grade 2 track OK when it wasn't previously?

I think maybe the minimum length of circuit could be tweaked, but those same documents also have formulas to determine the maximum number of cars on track and circuit length is a factor. I haven't looked at the formulas, but does running the current number of cars on a smaller track run into problems with multiple rules?

In the end, my opinion is there will be NO exemptions or rule changes to allow use of circuits that are not already 1 or maybe 1T. We might see alternate configurations if those already fit the required grade designation. So if you already can't run a circuit backwards, we will not see it changed to make it doable. I think it is much more likely to run multiple races at the same track (likely the same configuration as well). I suspect no "shorter than rules allow" circuit configurations will be used.

If they have limited circuits to pull from, the solution will likely be multiple races at one track will likely be double headers to reduce travel for teams. I think a question will be how quickly can teams turn around a car after a full race distance?

Richard

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by peebee2

You only need Grade 1 because of the crowds really, Grade 2 would be ok if behind closed doors..

I thought the Grade 1 thing was mainly safety? Competitors too, not just spectators. And competitor facilities? I didn't think spectator considerations were part of it really?

I didn't think that F1 didn't cared about spectators.

[peebee2]

I guess some Grade Two tracks could very easily be brought up to a higher standard, whereas some couldn’t.

I do think it’s all likely to irrelevant though as the most likely scenario is no races due to travel and social distancing restrictions.

[Moneyseeker]

WHO saying that 'survivors' of Covid-19 do not neccesarily have immunity. They are conducting more tests and will apparently present more guidance on this over the weekend. They also mention the ethical position of anti-body testing if you test someone making them believe thye are immunbe, send them back into 'normal life' when in fact they may well not be.

This will have a big impact if true IMO, as the policy of herd immunity will not work and the only solution is social distancing until a vaccine is available, which a UK health minister let slip this week...

This was from a WHO doctor in Geneva.

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[Skam85]

What's the status of the Imola track?

[Adam43]

Wasn’t Imola asking for a GP recently?

[S griffin]

It did offer to replace China

[crmalcolm]

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/14...uture-f1-races

Ignoring the fact that Italy and the UK are two of the worst hit countries, could both countries hold multiple events in the same season to limit travel?

[Casper]

Originally Posted by Richard Casto

I also find discussion of things like running circuits backwards, etc. completely puzzling.

I find the discussion in the past few days puzzling in the extreme TBH. I think a few people have been smoking stuff they should not have been when I read some of the posts here with outlandish comments on how racing could be re-started.

[S griffin]

There have been a few circuits run in both directions, but not that many

[el_cat]

Originally Posted by Skam85

What's the status of the Imola track?

Imola is Grade 1 - as others have said, it was a realistic contender to replace China before things turned really nasty.

I can’t find an official FIA list that’s up to date (a quick google pulls one up from 2018), but aside from the 22 that were on this years calendar the following also have Grade 1 status (or at least I think they do);

Mugello
Estoril
Magny-Cours (that will be a good one for isolation!)
Jerez
Valencia
Buriram
Dubai
Kuwait Motor Town
Losail
Kymi-Ring (although I thought that was build to Grade 1 standard without actually pursuing Grade 1 certification yet)
Moscow
Motorland Aragon

Also Igora Drive in Russia may be Grade 1 standard but not yet certificated. And of course there are circuits no longer used such as Buddh, Istanbul, Korea, Fuji.

EDIT - also worth noting that Bahrain, Dubai and Paul Ricard also have multiple layouts Grade 1 approved

[bella]

Originally Posted by Moneyseeker

WHO saying that 'survivors' of Covid-19 do not neccesarily have immunity. They are conducting more tests and will apparently present more guidance on this over the weekend.

china said this in february, and nobody really listened.

the theory being investigated back then was that this is an aids kind of virus in that once you are positive, you are positive, and will get flare-ups in the future.

Originally Posted by Casper

I find the discussion in the past few days puzzling in the extreme TBH. I think a few people have been smoking stuff they should not have been when I read some of the posts here with outlandish comments on how racing could be re-started.

if you know how precarious the majority of the motorsport industry is, particularly teams, then you would be desperate to get things restarted too. admittedly f1 is a trickier matter, but at this point any solutions are worth looking at and considering.

[Moneyseeker]

Originally Posted by S griffin

There have been a few circuits run in both directions, but not that many

Knockhill is one.

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[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by Moneyseeker

Knockhill is one.

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F1 at Knockhill?! How about a double header with Ingleston ?! I would pay money to watch that!

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Knockhill has MSA licences for both directions, but it’s FIA grade 3 is its conventional direction only.

[Armco Bender]

They could run on the Isle of Man....that would sort the men from the boys..

[Casper]

Originally Posted by bella

china said this in february, and nobody really listened.

the theory being investigated back then was that this is an aids kind of virus in that once you are positive, you are positive, and will get flare-ups in the future.

if you know how precarious the majority of the motorsport industry is, particularly teams, then you would be desperate to get things restarted too. admittedly f1 is a trickier matter, but at this point any solutions are worth looking at and considering.

Nothing is going to be started until governments are of the mind to allow unfettered international travel, unfortunately those who ignore this are going to be to disappointment. This is the reality, all the fantasising going on about re-starting passes the time I suppose and might make the authors feel better but not much else. Yes there are going to be casualties in this period of no racing and don't forget the period after racing re-starts when money won't be flowing then it will get really tough.

[thetool]

I think the main worry will be moving onto whether there can be any sort of F1 season 2022 at this point. Huge loss of income from this year, probably no races at all this season. Maybe F1 will be back in 2023 with a significantly scaled back calendar and a very different rule set/budget. Hard to predict. I struggle to see how it can possibly go back to business as normal.

As an aside and in reference to the original topic of this thread (started just two months ago), the Chinese GP should have been starting in just under four hours time. Feels like a lifetime ago.

[RWill2073]

Just marking, that on page 65, our first mention of 2023 has arrived.

Study after study finding that the actual infection rate is between 20 and 80 times higher than the reported numbers. What does this tell us? That the actual death rate for thos under 60 are very close to the flu or only slightly higher, at somewhere around 0.5%. Entire global economies, all personal freedom of many countries, being stripped, for 0.5%.

Any grade 1 or close tracks in sweden? Just wondering...

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by thetool

I think the main worry will be moving onto whether there can be any sort of F1 season 2022 at this point. Huge loss of income from this year, probably no races at all this season. Maybe F1 will be back in 2023 with a significantly scaled back calendar and a very different rule set/budget. Hard to predict. I struggle to see how it can possibly go back to business as normal.

As an aside and in reference to the original topic of this thread (started just two months ago), the Chinese GP should have been starting in just under four hours time. Feels like a lifetime ago.

The longer the F1 season is postponed the more income will be lost, which will adversely affect teams, venues and sponsors, so I don't think F1 will resume in 2023 as that's too far away. It is hard to predict, however I can see F1 returning in 2021 but with a reduced, more eurocentric calendar, as that's where the biggest fan base is for the foreseeable future and a revised rule book.

[thetool]

Those years should have been 2021 and 2022 respectively. I blame it on posting at 3 in the morning.