Yes, so theoretically the Austrian GP is a possibility. That said, Austria's Prime Minister Wurz also stated that Europe and Austria will likely keep a travel ban in place. They are looking into allowing tourists into the country from less affected countries but not from all. Which in a translation to F1 terms means the show is a no-go.
Hope??? Coronavirus: F1 teams agree to explore budget cap further after crisis meeting Formula 1 bosses ended their crisis meeting on Monday with an agreement to look further into the issues around lowering a budget cap. Teams had already agreed to reduce the original $175m (£142m) cap in 2021 to $150m (£122m) as a result of financial problems caused for F1 by coronavirus. But at the meeting, the top three teams pushed back on a proposal to reduce the cap further to $125m (£102m). And a bid to delay new rules by a further year to 2023 was rejected. What happened with the budget cap? Before meeting, McLaren boss Zak Brown had warned in a BBC Sport interview that F1 was "in a very fragile state" and it was imperative to reduce the budget cap to around $125m to ward off the threat of teams quitting the sport. But during the course of a five-hour discussion involving team bosses, FIA president Jean Todt and F1 chairman Chase Carey, it was agreed that the complexities of the issue had not been fully considered. Ferrari raised the point that a single figure for all teams was not fair and equitable because many of the smaller teams buy parts from the bigger teams. In that event, Ferrari argued, the bigger teams are essentially disadvantaged because they are footing the research and development costs of those parts, a cost the smaller teams who buy them do not have. The issue is further complicated by the fact that the customer teams all work to different models. Haas, for example, buy every part other than the monocoque and aerodynamic surfaces from Ferrari. Racing Point buy effectively the whole rear end of their car from Mercedes, while Williams just purchase an engine. Ferrari and Red Bull are said to be determined for the cap not to be lower than $150m, whereas Mercedes are willing to go below that figure if the outcome is based on a holistic view of real cost saving and not competitive opportunism of some teams trying to peg back others. There is also a move for a limit to be introduced on engine costs, which at the moment is one of the areas outside the budget cap. Bosses agreed to reconvene for another meeting in a few days' time. One possibility is that the issue is resolved by the sport ending up with one, higher, budget cap for the big teams to recognise their R&D cost and a lower one for the customer teams, perhaps even a sliding scale. Ferrari also said at the meeting that a budget cap figure lower than $150m would force them to make large-scale redundancies, which is problematic under Italian employment law. No more rules delay - for now The major rules change for 2021 which seeks to introduce cars that will create closer, more competitive racing was delayed last month by a year to 2022 to reduce costs. Red Bull had been keen for that to be delayed by a further year to 2023 but FIA president Todt was adamant that should not happen. It was agreed that the matter would be discussed again - but not until the summer, as it was not an urgent topic in the context of costs that need to be cut right now to assist teams with loss of income. When might racing resume? The coronavirus crisis has caused the first eight grands prix of 2020 to be called off and more postponements are expected this month. Carey has said that he hopes to start a reconfigured season of 15-18 races at some point in the summer but the spread of the virus leaves the sport in an uncertain situation. F1 bosses are now looking seriously at the option of holding races behind closed doors as a way to get the season going before social distancing restrictions are lifted. It is hoped that the actions of societies across Europe will lead to the coronavirus situation to improve sufficiently for a number of closed-door events to be held starting in July or August, perhaps kicking off with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, which has been singled out as a workable starting venue as seven of the 10 teams are based in this country.
ah more meetings where no one agrees with one another. Coming up next, some top team will moan they'll ''quit''. F1 needs a dictator.
Formula 1 officials held their latest meeting this week to discuss ways to safeguard the series as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be felt worldwide. The first eight races of the 2020 season have already been called off, which - combined with the anticipated economic difficulties expected to follow the crisis - is set to put a pinch on the finances of the entire grid. Having already agreed to postpone the 2021 technical regulations by one year to 2022 and continue with the current cars next year, the latest meeting on Monday looked to further discuss measures to ease the impact of COVID-19. The telephone conference lasted all afternoon, and featured the team principals from all 10 F1 teams, as well as F1 CEO Chase Carey, managing director Ross Brawn and FIA president Jean Todt. Sources indicated that it was a positive and productive session - but that few firm decisions were taken. Image Unavailable, Please Login Will F1's regulations be postponed further? One of the discussion points in the meeting was a possible further postponement of the new technical regulations until 2023. Last month, teams gave their unanimous support to delaying the 2021 rules package by a year given the high levels of spending involved. But Red Bull chief Christian Horner indicated there could be a further delay, saying there was "reasonable agreement" to put the new regulations on hold until 2023. This was rejected during the meeting, though, with agreement being reached to stick to the existing plan of introducing the new-style cars in 2022. Image Unavailable, Please Login Will the cost cap come down? The majority of the meeting was taken up by discussion over the cost cap as a number of teams looked to push through a further reduction for 2021. The $175 million cost cap announced last October is still set to come into force next year despite the postponement of the technical regulations - but there is support for reducing it to $150 million. McLaren has been particularly vocal about the need to limit spending, with CEO Zak Brown warning recently that as many as four F1 teams could disappear from the grid unless stricter measures are introduced. But one concern raised by the bigger teams in the meeting was that any development costs incurred when supplying customer squads with parts, such as gearboxes and suspension parts, was still included in the cap. The likes of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull all produce parts for smaller teams, the cost for which would come out of their own budgets for the season. They argued this would then give the smaller teams an unfair advantage as they would be able to spend their money elsewhere. The matter is set to be researched further ahead of the next meeting. Image Unavailable, Please Login How else will costs be reduced in the short-term? As part of the decision to delay the new regulations and reduce costs, the teams also agreed to stick with their 2020 cars for next season and ban development on the 2022 cars for the rest of this year. While there is no restriction currently in place on the development of existing models, team bosses have been discussing possible ways to limit this in a bid to further reduce expenditure. A token system has been proposed that would force teams to decide which parts of their car they develop over the next two seasons, not dissimilar to the token system used for power units between 2014 and 2016. It would create variation between teams on which areas of their cars they wish to strengthen, as well as limiting costs. The idea was widely supported during the meeting. There is also a further push to reduce costs with tighter Aerodynamic Testing Regulations, while an extension of the current three-week factory shutdown is also likely. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/148940/what-we-learned-from-f1-latest-crisis-talks
French GP on the clock... Reports are they're waiting for the Tour de France to make a decision. No way the TdF starts in June...
Move the entire series to Sweden. No lockdown, no quarantine. Hold a race on the same track every two weeks. Just apply a new coat of paint to everything to match a different country's flag and alternate clockwise and counter-clockwise race to race. Problem solved! You might have to eat lutefisk on a stick and drink akvavit, but that's a small price to pay.
Formula 1 bosses take a pay cut, while other staff are put on furlough https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/52198033 Formula 1 has put about half its staff on enforced leave while senior figures are to take a salary cut as a result of the coronavirus crisis. The decision follows similar moves by three teams in the past few days. The F1 leadership group have all voluntarily agreed to take at least a 20% pay cut but will not benefit from the government furlough scheme. The rest of the staff will be using the job retention scheme that pays 80% of wages up £2,500 a month.
https://www.planetf1.com/news/racing-point-copy-mercedes/ They’ve got great photographers, that’s for sure,” Abiteboul told French broadcaster Canal+. “But to be fair, I have noticed how they have quite honestly said they copied. “I think it’s the first time since I joined Formula 1 that someone has been really proud of copying. It’s like someone who forges artworks being super happy with the work he’s done. “Yet, it’s not worth the original piece, or the pride of working on an original piece. A lot of the issues and talking points are on hold in Formula 1, but it appears Renault still have some questions that they want answering when the season does eventually resume. He added: “The main thing to find out is: based on public information, is it possible to do such an accurate and efficient job? “I won’t go any further at this stage, but it is still something we’re wondering about.”
I think they’re dreaming, Andreas. Quebec has more cases of COVID 19 than the combined amount of all the other provinces in Canada. Still climbing, unfortunately. 2021 earliest, imho.
I would agree. As I said earlier in a post most of these "postponements" are euphemisms for cancellation so they don't have to pay the ticket $ back immediately or ever if they move it to next year. That said, I still think especially city GPs could be done at some later point in time. I don't understand why Monaco threw in the towel entirely (well I do financially since they are a non fee paying race, so it was probably Liberty who cancelled them). A Monaco, Montreal, Baku or Singapore GP could be done at any time during the year.
Don't forget that city GPs are more disruptive, maybe why the authorities want them scheduled at least ONE YEAR in advance, and not willy-nilly. In many places, these races are organised against some local hostility.
While I understand your argument, my point is the opposite: These races are in all likelihood the biggest event each year for that particular city. It puts its name on the map and brings in massive tourist $, which is why they host them. Therefore a city has the utmost interest to make such an event happen. What could possibly be more important on the social calendar?
Well, that's the opinion of an enthusiast, but it may not square up with the wishes of the locals. Right now, commercial interests must take a back seat in any considerations; there are more important issues to deal with. Also I think that trumpeting the value of massive tourism when we are fighting a pandemic wouldn't be appreciated. In fact, tourism and air transport may find themselves in the dock once the dust has settled on Covid-19.
The city has to fork over about $25M to host a race. The city hopes it can recoup the investment by all of the visitors spending lots of money. No race, no outflow of $25M Race with no fans present is a BIG expense. So, no racing without fans.
