Lewis Hamilton’s bid to defend his Driver’s Championship in Formula 1 racing has been put on a lengthy hold, along with the rest of the professional sports world, thanks to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 season actually never got underway but has remained on hiatus. However, the FIA has released a new race calendar that only includes the European summer portion of the campaign. However, more dates are expected, enough to justify an official championship this year. In a season with fewer races, of course, each race will be even more important when it comes to stacking up the points. If you plan to include Formula 1 racing in your online betting this year, don’t miss the latest information about restarting this storied sport and it’s Fomula 1 Odds.
F1 Betting: Formula 1 COVID-19 Status & Return Date
The 2020 season is set to start on July 3, as the drivers will head to Austria to get in their practice work, and the Austrian Grand Prix will take place on July 5 at Red Bull Ring. This was actually the originally scheduled date for Austria’s turn hosting Formula 1. Interestingly enough, there will be another race at Red Bull Ring on July 12 — a doubleheader. This will take place at least one other time, as Great Britain will host two Grands Prix back to back, one in late July and the other in early August.
The last date on the released calendar comes on September 6, in Italy, at the course at Monza. This is also the same date that the Italian Grand Prix had been scheduled to go forward. It will be interesting to see if this turns into a doubleheader as well.
What about the rest of the races? This is a sport that goes all over the world, ranging from North and South America to east Asia. The rest of the schedule will have a lot to do with the spread of the pandemic. South America and Central America are hotbeds of the disease right now. Brazil’s case total has shot to second in the world, behind the United States, and Brazil and Mexico have been even more cavalier than the United States with respect to social distancing, contact tracing and other areas of pandemic management.
Even if the pandemic has eased by September, the significant amount of travel and logistics involved with hopping all over the globe for F1 races means that it will be difficult to keep a normal schedule. Here are the dates we know right now:
- Round 1 — Austria (3-5 July, Red Bull Ring)
- Round 2 — Austria (10-12 July, Red Bull Ring)
- Round 3 — Hungary (17-19 July, Hungaroring)
- Round 4 — Great Britain (31 July – 2 August, Silverstone)
- Round 5 — Great Britain (7-9 August, Silverstone)
- Round 6 — Spain (14-16 August, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya)
- Round 7 — Belgium (28-30 August, Spa)
- Round 8 — Italy (4-6 September, Monza)
