As the F1 community prepares for the start of the 2020 Formula 1 World Championship season next month in Europe, the organisers of the Singapore Grand Prix have announced that the event is cancelled. Until today, it was uncertain of the street race would be run but the decision has been taken in view of continuing nationwide restrictions on construction and business activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“While there are still more than 3 months to go before the scheduled race on September 20, we regret to announce that we will be unable to proceed with the race due to the prohibitions imposed on access and construction of the event venue required for a street race to be held in the city,” the organisers said, adding that ‘confirmation of the cancellation will also give certainty to our fans, ticket holders, and commercial partners’.
Insufficient time, besides safety concerns
It was explained that the limitations, which continue to remain in place, would make building and construction work of the circuit unable to take place. Normally, such work starts in May each year as the infrastructure for the circuit, especially safety aspects, is a temporary one created specifically for the event which has been run annually since 2008.
Ticket holders will receive automatic refunds within 30 business days but if they prefer, there is also the option of retaining their ticket for the 2020 event.
7 rounds cancelled
To date, 7 rounds of the 2020 championship have been cancelled. They are the Australian GP, Monaco GP, French GP, Netherlands GP, Singapore GP, Azerbaijan GP and Japan GP. There were originally 22 rounds in this year’s calendar.
The championship will have its opening round in Europe on July 5, starting with two weekends in Austria. The organisers will try to have at least 15 – 18 races before the end of the year. However, apart from strict health-related procedures for the participants, the races will also be run without spectators and rely largely on TV and internet broadcasts.
By this time last year, at least seven rounds of the Formula 1 World Championship would already have run. But in 2020, not a single round has taken place due to the global pandemic that forced many countries to have lockdowns, preventing most activities from taking place, including motorsports.
The severity of the pandemic and its rapid spread was unexpected and although initially, the F1 organization expected to be able to start the championship in the second quarter, the continued lockdowns made that impossible. There were proposals to run races without spectators but then travel between countries was also becoming increasingly difficult and the organizers started to look at the second half of the year with a reduced number of rounds to fit the 6 months left.
European rounds start first
There were to be 22 races to be run in this year’s championship. Clearly, the organizers had to find a way to run the events with so much sponsorship money at stake, and the teams too wanted to race as the financiers had put in so much money. The FIA (the body governing motorsports) worked closely with the teams and organizers and finally agreed to begin the championship from July. This is on the assumption that the continued lifting of restrictions in many European countries with improving situations continues and there isn’t a massive wave of new infections.
“Over the past two months, Formula One has been working closely with all partners, authorities, the FIA and the 10 teams to create a revised calendar that will allow a return to racing in a way that is safe for the communities visited and the entire Formula 1 community,” the FIA said in a statement.
“The opening 2020 schedule will begin in Austria on July 3 – 5, with an expectation of having a total of 15 -18 races before the completion of the season in December. It is currently expected that the opening races will be closed events,” the FIA said. “But it is hoped fans will be able to join events again when it is safe to do so.
Strict procedures at track
Strict procedures will be observed at the circuits with personnel to be tested for COVID-19 before traveling and regular testing will also take place during the race weekend. Interaction will be minimized and travel arrangements as well as other activities for each team and other groups involved will be ‘self-contained’.
Remembering the opening round that was to be held in Australia in March when one member of the McLaren team had a positive result for the coronavirus and eventually saw the event being cancelled, the organizers say that this should not happen again. Even if someone is tested positive and the team decides not to take part, the race will still go on.
New challenges for teams
Commenting on the resumption of races, Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, said: “This new calendar and the coronavirus throws some new challenges at us. I think reliability is going to be a fundamental part of the opening races. The cars have come out of the container straight from Australia. There is not a lot of time for them on the dynos. We will be using every session to learn. The reduced race calendar is a challenge for everybody and again, I think that the team that has the quickest car and the most reliable package will win the Championship.”
Of the 22 races that were scheduled this year, four have been confirmed as cancelled – the Australian GP, Monaco GP, French GP and Netherlands GP. For now, 8 rounds in Europe are confirmed and listed which leaves 10, of which six had been postponed. There is hope that between the last European round in Italy in early September and the end of the year, the other venues can be slotted in.
While the World Rally Championship managed to run its first three rounds this year before the rest of the series was suspended, the 2020 Formula 1 World Championship was not so lucky. Just as the opening round in Australia was about to start on March 15, a member of one of the teams was found to be infected with the COVID-19 virus. Earlier, some of the drivers had already been unhappy about proceeding with the race but flew to Australia anyway. And as things turned out, the Australian government clamped down on gatherings which forced the race to be cancelled.
Earlier, the organizers of the Chinese GP had already informed the FIA that they had to postpone their event scheduled for April. The pandemic was at its height in Wuhan and running a race was not a good idea. Bahrain also announced that it would run a race but not allow spectators into the circuit, relying on TV and internet to broadcast the race that was to run on March 22.
The 2020 Chinese GP, to have been held this month in Shanghai, was the first round to be postponed as the pandemic worsened.
As the pandemic worsened globally, Bahrain and then Vietnam announced that their events would be postponed. Eventually, the first 7 races of the season would not be run as lockdown conditions in the European venues made them impossible. There was hope that the races could start in Canada but earlier this month, the organizers of that event also said they had to postpone.
Next on the list was the French GP, scheduled for June 28. However, this too won’t be possible as the French government will not allow major events until at least the middle of July. So that’s 10 events that have not been run. While accepting that safety issues are a priority, the teams must not only be frustrated by also under financial pressures with their sponsors and partners also facing challenges.
The eleventh round is scheduled to be held in Austria at the Red Bull Ring on July 5. Chase Carey, the CEO of the F1 Group which manages the business side of the sport, has expressed confidence that racing in Europe will start from July in Austria. Rescheduling will see the other races resuming in Eurasia, Asia and the Americas and finish in the Middle East venues of Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. It total, he expects 15 to 18 races to be run by December.
The first race is planned to be held at the Red Bull Ring in Austria but it will be a closed event, so there won’t be the huge crowds that usually turn up to watch. The same condition has also been planned for the British GP at Silverstone.
“We expect the early races to be without fans but hope fans will be part of our events as we move further into the schedule. We still have to work out many issues like the procedures for the teams and our other partners to enter and operate in each country. The health and safety of all involved will continue to be priority one and we will only go forward if we are confident we have reliable procedures to address both risks and possible issues,” said Carey.
“While we have been moving forward with our 2020 plans, we have also been working hard with the FIA and the teams to strengthen the long term future of Formula 1 through an array of new technical, sporting, and financial regulations that will improve the competition and action on the track and make it a healthier business for all involved, particularly as we engage the issues created by the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.
Initial plans are for no spectators and only essential team members who will have to be screened for their health condition before being allowed in.
On the part of the FIA, the governing body of motorsport, the only statements have been that they are ‘closely monitoring the evolving situation with its Member Clubs and relevant authorities including Governments and WHO, under the direction of FIA Medical Commission President’.
It started with a bold declaration by Liberty Media, which hold commercial rights for the sport, that the first three rounds of 2020 Formula 1 World Championship would go ahead as scheduled. That was around the time (February 29) the Geneva Motorshow was cancelled and so was the China round of the F1 championship in April.
Although the COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic was worsening, no one expected it to accelerate and hit Europe and then America and almost every country in the world so quickly. Worse, Italy then went into a lockdown to try to slow the spread of the disease, potentially affecting some of the racing teams which have bases in Italy as well as Pirelli, F1’s tyre supplier. Some countries were getting concerned about Italian travelers and refused to allow them in.
But still the opening round in Australia scheduled for this weekend was to continue. In spite of concerns expressed by the teams, ‘the show had to go own’; Liberty Media had already warned its shareholders that there will be a severe effect on revenues this year with millions of dollars being lost if championship rounds are cancelled and certainly a lot more if the entire championship is not run.
The circuit in Albert Park, Melbourne, where the first round of 2020 was to be held.
Australia was already beginning to have a growing number of cases as March started and restrictions were placed on foreign travelers. An exception was made for those from Italy but they had to go through stringent checks. Eight F1 personnel from two teams were seen to display mild symptoms associated with the virus and tests were done on them.
Then news came that a member of the McLaren Racing team tested positive for the COVID-19 virus and thing began to unravel. Lewis Hamilton was vocal about the race being run, with Sebastian Vettel saying that, ‘for sure you pull the handbrake’, referring to the possibility of cancelling the event if the situation was too unsafe.
“I am really very, very surprised that we are here,” Hamilton said at a press conference. “For me, it is shocking that we are all sitting in this room. It seems like the rest of the world is reacting … Formula One continues to go on – it’s definitely concerning for me.”
In these times, social distancing (standing at least a metre away from another person) is recommended and Lewis Hamilton was certainly not taking chances! The reigning World Champion was surprised that the race was not cancelled earlier.
Among the 20 drivers, personal health safety was of course a priority, but they also felt that any team excluded from the race – due to restrictions – would mean it was not fair to that team or teams. “If a team is prevented from entering a country, we can’t have a race. Not a Formula One world championship race, anyway, because that would be unfair,” said Formula 1 motorsports Managing Director, Ross Brawn.
McLaren then announced it would not participate, issuing this statement: “McLaren Racing has confirmed this evening in Melbourne that it has withdrawn from the 2020 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, following the positive test of a team member for the coronavirus. The team member was tested and self-isolated as soon as they started to show symptoms and will now be treated by local healthcare authorities.”
“The team has prepared for this eventuality and has ongoing support in place for its employee who will now enter a period of quarantine. The team is cooperating with the relevant local authorities to assist their investigations and analysis.”
“Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, and Andreas Seidl, Team Principal of McLaren F1, informed Formula 1 and the FIA of the decision this evening. The decision has been taken based on a duty of care not only to McLaren F1 employees and partners, but also to the team’s competitors, Formula 1 fans and wider F1 stakeholders.”
Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz, Jr. were the first two drivers to withdraw from the race after one of McLaren’s personnel was found to be infected.
The teams met and half of them (five) were willing to race so it was a stalemate and had to be discussed with other parties to come to a decision. Then Daimler AG came into the picture, instructing its team (Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Motorsport) not to participate, along with persuading it customer teams Racing Point and Williams to do the same. That left only two teams willing to race – Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri. The decision was clear: pull out. Some drivers packed and got on flights home right away.
It was still dark in the western world (6 am in Malaysia) as the Australian Grand Prix Corporation (AGPC) sent out its statement: “At 9 am today, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation was advised by Formula One of their intention to cancel all Formula 1 activity at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix. In light of this decision and updated advice this morning from the Chief Health Officer of the Victorian Government’s Department of Human and Health Services, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation confirms the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix is cancelled immediately.”
The FIA, Formula 1 and AGPC confirmed that the race was cancelled although there had been hopes that it could still be run – without spectators as the local government had banned large gatherings. “All parties took into consideration the huge efforts of the AGPC, Motorsport Australia, staff and volunteers to stage the opening round of the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship in Melbourne, however concluded that the safety of all members of the Formula 1 family and the wider community, as well as the fairness of the competition take priority,” the statement said.
The next round is in Bahrain, which is to be held on March 22, and the organisers for that event have already planned to run the race without spectators present, relying on livestreaming and TV broadcasts. At the time of writing, Bahrain has around 60 cases and no deaths.
Then there is the third round in Vietnam which has yet to be decided upon. The race is scheduled for April 5 but the government has already declared that anyone who has been in Italy (as well as China, Iran and certain areas of South Korea) in the previous 14 days will not be allowed in. That would mean the Italian teams and Pirelli’s personnel. With the W.H.O. having declared that the situation is now a ‘pandemic’ and urging governments to be more serious, it is likely that the Vietnamese will not be as flexible as the Australians. So it looks like the round will be postponed if not cancelled which is unfortunate as it would be the first time F1 is held in the country.
As for the rest of the championship, there is uncertainty since the pandemic is growing daily and even postponement of events may not be possible. The virus isn’t just going to ‘vanish’ overnight and even if it can be slowed, it will still be around for some time to come. Singapore’s Prime Minister last night warned that ‘this outbreak will continue for some time – a year, and maybe longer’.
Apart from F1, other motorsports events have also been cancelled or postponed, including the Formula E round that was scheduled for June 22. The organisers of the Jakarta e-Prix will follow the instruction of the Governor of Jakarta not to run the race even though it is still many months ahead. It will be rescheduled but the new date has not been announced yet. Jakarta joins the circuits in Sanya, China and Rome which have had their events postponed.
Related: Formula E round in China cancelled, other motorsports events under review by FIA due to concerns about coronavirus.
The opening round of the 2020 Formula 1 World Championship will, as usual, be in Melbourne, Australia and it will go ahead next weekend despite concerns about the COVID-19 epidemic. Australia has not forbidden large-scale events (yet) unlike Switzerland which has stopped events with over 1,000 people. The Geneva International Motor Show was a ‘victim’ of the decree, having to be cancelled at the last minute.
However, for the second round in Bahrain on March 22, spectators will not be allowed into the circuit. Yes, you read that right – no spectators. Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, it will be a ‘closed-door event’ which will only rely on live internet and TV broadcasts. It’s not clear if the public will be allowed to attend the planned concerts which this year have Afrojack, Don Diablo and Khalid performing.
The Bahrain International Circuit at Sakhir
The statement from the organisers today said: “In consultation with our international partners and the Kingdom’s national health Taskforce, Bahrain has made the decision to hold this year’s Bahrain Grand Prix as a participants-only event.”
“As an F1 host nation, balancing the welfare of supporters and racegoers is a tremendous responsibility. Given the continued spread of COVID-19 globally, convening a major sporting event which is open to the public and allows thousands of international travellers and local fans to interact in close proximity would not be the right thing to do at the present time. But to ensure that neither the sport, nor its global supporter base, is unduly impacted, the race weekend itself will still go ahead as a televised event.”
“Bahrain’s own early actions to prevent, identify and isolate cases of individuals with COVID-19 has been extremely successful to date. The approach has involved rapid, proactive measures, identifying those affected by the virus, of which the overwhelming majority of cases relate to those travelling into the country by air. Aggressive social distancing measures have further increased the effectiveness of preventing the virus’ spread, something that would clearly be near impossible to maintain were the race to have proceeded as originally planned.”
The statement went on to acknowledge that many will be disappointed by the development, especially those planning to travel to the event, ‘but safety has to remain our utmost priority’. Up till today, data from the WHO and Malaysian Health Ministry shows that Bahrain has 85 cases of COVID-19 infections with no deaths (Malaysia has 93 cases, no deaths).
On its part, the FIA has not yet made any changes to the F1 calendar other than to cancel the Chinese GP scheduled in April (at the request of the organisers). Professor Gerard Saillant, President of the FIA’s Medical Commission, said an FIA Crisis Cell has been established and convenes every second day to consider the latest developments around the world.
“The FIA continues to closely monitor the situation and its implications, together with its Member Clubs and Promoters, and follows the advice of relevant authorities including governments and the World Health Organization (WHO). The FIA will evaluate the calendar of its forthcoming competitions and take any action required to help protect the global motorsport community and the wider public, including the postponement of competitions where necessary,” he said.
Support teams, especially tyre suppliers Pirelli, may be hampered by strict regulations that prevent them from entering countries where races are held.
There is also growing concern in the F1 community as Italy’s northern region goes into lockdown to try to prevent further spread of the virus. Pirelli, the tyre suppliers, are located in Milan which is within the lockdown area while teams from Italy – Scuderia Ferrari and AlphaTauri F1 – are monitoring the situation. It is hoped that Australia, Bahrain and Vietnam, where the first three rounds are to be held, will be flexible on allowing personnel from Italy to enter.
Ross Brawn, F1’s Managing Director for Motorsport, feels that if any team is prevented from entering a country to participate in the race, then there should not be a race. His remarks to Reuters suggested that the race might still be run but ‘it won’t be a Formula 1 championship race’ because it would be unfair to the teams affected.
Just 75 days after the last race of the 2019 season, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team has put its all-new racing car through its first laps. The Mercedes-AMG F1 W11 EQ Performance, as the 2020 car is officially known, was driven at Silverstone by both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. Both drivers were eager to get back into the car after their winter break, which included intensive training to prepare for the upcoming season.
The ’EQ Performance’ in the name links the F1 car to the brand’s future Mercedes-AMG performance hybrid models. It showcases how F1 technology is pioneering the future of motor racing and automotive technology in general. ‘W11’ represents the fact that this is the eleventh Mercedes-made Formula 1 car since the 3-pointed star returned to F1 as a works team in 2010.
Stable regulations for the new season
Though ‘all-new’ is mentioned, the W11 EQ Performance is essentially an evolution of last year’s car that won Mercedes-Benz its historic sixth consecutive double championship. The team has looked at a myriad of areas to improve the car and has changed the vast majority of the over 10,000 parts of the car to extract more performance. It is expected to become the fastest Mercedes-Benz racing car ever built.
In addition to many detail changes and smaller improvements, the team has introduced three larger changes – one at the front, one at the middle and one at the back of the car. At the front, there is more structural complexity around the uprights and wheel rims in order to provide a higher performance assembly overall. In the middle of the car, the upper side impact tube has been repositioned to the lower position and banking the aerodynamic gain that comes with this layout. At the rear is an ‘adventurous’ suspension layout in order to free up aerodynamic development opportunity.
An all-new Power Unit
Similar to the development on the chassis side, the all-new Power Unit (PU) is an evolution as the regulations stayed largely the same. However, while the chassis regulations go into their second year of relative stability, the technical regulations around the Power Unit have not had any major changes since the introduction of the current generation of 1.6-litre V6 hybrid engines in 2014, making performance boosts increasingly difficult.
In the 6 years since its introduction, the Mercedes-AMG PU has made significant progress not just in terms of power output and reliability, but also in terms of its efficiency. From 2014 to today, the thermal efficiency has improved from about 44% to over 50%. Thermal efficiency describes an engine’s ability to convert fuel energy into useful work. Achieving more than 50% means that that more than half of the energy in the fuel can be used to propel the car. A typical road car engine would usually reach about 30% of thermal efficiency.
Last year’s car struggled in hot ambient temperatures and the engineers have worked to improve the cooling package for the W11. In addition to larger radiators in the car, the team has focused on making the cooling more efficient. All the cooling fluids on the PU operate at a higher temperature, which increases the temperature difference between that coolant fluid and the ambient temperature that the car is racing in. This increases the effectiveness of the cooling system but there is a downside: large parts of the engine are made from aluminium and the operating temperatures mean the material properties decay quite rapidly. Managing that over an 8-race distance PU cycle is thus a tough engineering challenge.
10th anniversary for the works team
2020 is a special year for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team as the outfit celebrates its 10th anniversary as a modern-day Mercedes works team in Formula 1. Since March 2010, when the new Mercedes F1 team competed in its first race, it has started in 198 Formula 1 Grands Prix, taken 93 victories, 194 podium places and 48 one-two wins.
March 2010 – the new Mercedes F1 team competed in its first race in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
“It’s fantastic that the team is able to celebrate its ten-year anniversary,” said Toto Wolff. “We made our first come-back to F1 over 25 years ago as an engine supplier and then we went all in 10 years ago. It shows our long-term commitment – with our own works team and as a Power Unit supplier to valuable customers. We have been a part of Formula One with changing technical regulations, with changes in the Daimler top management, but our commitment to the sport hasn’t changed. It’s great that we get to celebrate our tenth anniversary with the Mercedes works team as one further milestone of this commitment.”
Massive change in regulations in 2021
Looking ahead, he said that the team must prepare for the massive changes that will be introduced in F1 in the following year. 2021 will see the biggest change to the technical regulations in the history of Formula 1 which will require virtually every part of the car to be designed and developed from scratch. In addition to the technical complexity of the regulation change, the new financial regulations mean that teams will have to re-organise the way they tackle these changes.
“2020 is an evolution of the current regulations and the gains will be smaller, so you need more time and effort to keep improving your car,” said Wolff. “On the other hand, the 2021 regulations are so very different that you need a lot of time to prepare for them. Every month you start later than your competitors will make it more difficult to catch up. You also have the effect of the cost cap which means that you will have fewer resources available to throw at things in 2021.”
Cancellations of Formula 1 races are rare and the last time was 8 years ago when the Bahrain Grand Prix had to be cancelled due to security issues as a result of unrest in the country. This time, it’s the outbreak of a disease and given the seriousness and spread of the COVID-19 virus in China, the FIA has made the decision not to run the Chinese Grand Prix which was scheduled for April 19 in Shanghai. This follows the cancellation of the Formula E round that was to be held on Hainan Island next month.
For both events, the FIA has mentioned ‘postponed’ which suggests that the events could be held later in the year. However, the calendars are tight and finding an available weekend may not be easy. Furthermore, being in Asia, logistics have to be considered too as a series of races may be scheduled for the venues in the western hemisphere.
The FIA has considered the health and safety of all those involved in F1 races, and has decided the Chinese GP this year should be cancelled, with the possibility that it may be run later in the year.
“In view of the continued spread of novel coronavirus and after ongoing discussions with the Federation of Automobile and Motorcycle Sports of People’s Republic of China (CAMF) and Shanghai Administration of Sports, the Chinese Grand Prix Promoter, Juss Sports Group, has officially requested that the 2020 FIA Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix be postponed,” the organisation said in a statement.
“As a result of continued health concerns and with the World Health Organisation declaring the coronavirus as a global health emergency, the FIA and Formula 1 have taken these measures in order to ensure the health and safety of the travelling staff, championship participants and fans, which remains of primary concern,” said the FIA.
The FIA and Formula 1 will continue to work closely with the teams, race promoter, CAMF and the local authorities to monitor the situation as it develops. It will also review the situation for other motorsport events globally in accordance with the changing COVID-19 environment and advisories from the World Health Organisation.
