Chinese Grand Prix Postponed Due To Coronavirus Pandemic
With the news that the 2020 Formula One curtain-raiser had been cancelled with just a couple of days warning, Australian racing fans and plenty of other global petrolheads who had traveled to Melbourne would have been undoubtedly aggrieved at such rapid development.
While with the first round canceled, there was a subsequent look to the pair of Asian races that were to follow and with the announcement that the Bahrain Grand Prix was to be postponed, it comes as no surprise that the Vietnamese and Chinese editions have met the same fate.
At this point, it meant that the first four rounds of the 2020 calendar had either been canceled or postponed and this meant, that in theory, you can still watch no less than 18 rounds of this year’s championship.
With the races from Bahrain through to China being postponed, there is always the scope to reschedule the dates, to make sure that the Formula One action returns to both the Middle East and Asia.
However, if a date is marked down as postponed, the usual precedent is that it eventually canceled and with so few spare dates, it makes rescheduling the likes of the Chinese Grand Prix nigh on impossible.
A situation that has perhaps only worsened in the past few days and that is because a slew of European Grand Prix dates have also been postponed - which will only create even more of a headache for Motorsport’s governing body.
This means the FIA now has to find even more spare dates to work with, as the first three European legs of the 2020 tour have also been placed on hiatus, meaning the status of the Dutch, Spanish and Azerbaijani races are very much pending.
In addition to that, one of the jewels in an annual Formula One crown has had to be scrapped, as the Monaco Grand Prix has taken up the same status as it’s Australian cousin and it is one that comes in the form of cancellation.
With the race being held around the streets of Monte Carlo, the principality must be all but closed for one weekend a year and with no way of knowing when the competition will restart, there’s no logical date in which to try again.
No Monaco Grand Prix will undoubtedly be a bitter pill to swallow for many fans, but at the same time, the postponement of China’s upcoming round will also be frustrating, especially in such a burgeoning market.
There’s no doubt that the discipline of Formula One has become a real global commodity in the past few years and when the tour touches down in Beijing, it puts on a show in front of some of the globe’s most fervent fans.
However, just like all sporting postponements in recent times, the decision to not hold the Chinese Grand Prix on April 19th will not have been taken lightly and health for both attending fans and competing drivers will be considered paramount.
Although with so many races now in a state of abeyance, it does perhaps ask a rather pertinent question and that is whether the season can go ahead, especially with just 14 scheduled dates left remaining.
With more than one-third of the Formula One calendar parked to one side, there is already the sense that this year will have lost some of its lustre and of course, that’s without the guarantee that racing will even get underway in June.
The new first race is scheduled for June 14th for a trip to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix and although there is a quiet belief that racing will finally get underway on the date, no-one can be sure at this present time.
Should Canada go the same way as China, the FIA will have a serious decision to make and that is whether to void the whole of the 2020 F1 calendar, due to an even further decreasing number of championship races to be held.
If a decision to void was made, it would be incredibly unpopular amongst fans and although they would be starved of the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas for a year, the drivers themselves may benefit.
With new regulations coming into play next year, this would give the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari the ideal opportunity to work on their new cars with 2021 in mind and subsequently make sure that next year is a real spectacle.
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