And this will likely continue if the world stays shut down. In that scenario a race can not be held. Do you honestly think the British Gov will continue to pay F1 salaries if the world opens up but F1 chooses to stay shut down for the season? We are talking about scenarios where it is POSSIBLE to hold races.
The 80% furlough benefit is up to a maximum of £2500 per month and for a projected 3 months - although this might be extended. This is not going direct to employees - it is up to the employer to claim from HM Revenue & Customs (our taxman) and it will be June before this starts to filter through to employees. It is only available to employees who are 'furloughed' and there is no compulsory requirement for a company to place its employees on furlough. Until then there is only the benefits system available which has its own problems of bureaucracy and delay. So there is no guarantee of anyone's income being fully protected and certainly not yet. The claim system itself will not be in place until the end of April. People working at the F1 team factories will not be as comfortable as you might think.
British Government paying Lewis's salary would be something special F1 should hold some kart races for its drivers to help keep their skills sharp, with the benefit of a level playing field.
Thank you for the clarification. £2500 / mo certainly helps, but won't go far for a family of 4. But as I suspected,... 3 months. IF (big if!) things open up,... I doubt the British Gov't will continue today F1 personnel because the teams choose to stay shut because the shortened season would have an " * " in the record books!
F1 teams have a lot of contractors on the books for 3/6/9 months as needed.They are self employed and heave to go through more hoops to get some money.
Yeah, I was fortunate enough to watch of the Procar races. F1 drivers in identical M1 duking it out before the GP. It was epic.
If the FIA would blow out this season, cancel and write it off, and let all the teams put full effort into the new cars and 2021, with lots of open free testing, then the new cars would arrive fully sorted and the new season would be full of hungry fans. The testing would also allow for trying new drivers and getting rid of dead wood.
In any case, nobody knows for sure when and where racing could resume. Instead of speculating, it would be better, IMO, for the FIA and Liberty to come clear and write off this season. That would leave time to prepare for a return next year, at the earliest. To run a World Championship, first Covid-19 has to be defeated on ALL continents, in every host country, for all participants to travel and play a part safely. We are far from that yet !
I think it is premature to call off this season already. Might it be necessary? It's certainly possible. Is it more likely than not? Unfortunately that's probably the case. We are talking about lots of countries at various points in pandemic,...international travel,... and numerous health organizations. But what is wrong with a contingency plan? It costs nothing (at this point). Is it likely to come to fruition? I am not optimistic. But realistically,... how much lead time is required to turn on a GP? Not much if you adhere to the dates already scheduled. 2 months is almost certainly sufficient. It's changing the schedule or adding dates that would seem to get tricky. I think by June 1, we should have clarity. Are things improving dramatically by then? If not... As for long term,... meaning 2021... I am not too concerned. Things open up dramatically when a vaccine is available.
Probably 2 months lead time minimum, to set dates, contract the guards, food workers, bands,..... and all that incidental stuff like sell tickets, book reservations,.... If we KNOW we are out of the fire in JULY, September is the first race.
If September is the first race, the season is practically over by then !!! No enough time to run a championship.
What in 'ell are you talking about? You watch the news but don't really pay attention, eh? Anyone making under 75g gets that. 'Has nothing to do with unemployment which is now up to 39 weeks and more than what many were earning whilst working.
'See no reason not to....the sponsors pay the big bucks not just for the thousands of eyeballs at the circuits, rather, more so for the millions of them glued to the screens.
Yes. People in the stands pay the organizer and they look nice on TV but they are basically irrelevant. And in the cases of Bahrain or Shanghai, whether they allow spectators or not, doesn't make a whole difference in the optics.
I like the title "Prediction of a fan free F1": Ecclestone, Carey and the FIA have been working hard for years to achieve this goal. They might finally get it.
For the last few years, most of the celebs they interview on the grid walk have no clue what F1 is. I am convinced that when they were asked if they wanted to go F one,... they thought they were being invited to a Jeffrey Epstein party
What always ticks me off is when they use a celebrity to wave the checkered flag and then that person waves it a lap too soon creating chaos.
Coulthard may be talking about the future of ALL public events, not only F1. In years to come, sporting, cultural, musical, political, or religious event may be held without public. Huge saving on the carbon footprint without all the air travels, the traffic jams, etc ...