Perhaps it is a case of “best plaid plans” but F1’s aggressive 23-race calendar issued late last fall may need to be amended according to FIA president Jean Todt.
Autosport quotes the FIA head as having concerns over the race schedule for 2021 saying:
“Unfortunately, it’s not over,” Todt said.
“It’s not like the season is ending, [so] we start from a white piece of paper. Lockdown is still going to happen, confinement, the virus is there.
“There has been progress. We are expecting a vaccine, so it will be good for the population, good for the planet to be able to enjoy that.
“But I’m sure that over the next days, we will hear quite a lot of potential changes on the different calendars, not only Formula 1, but on other calendars.
“If I had to commit on a back to kind of normal, even if I feel it will be a different life behind the COVID-19 crisis, I think half of next year, in my opinion, will not be as we could have expected to have in a normal season.”
With reports that the Australian GP may need to be postponed already, there are concerns over what other changes may have to be made. In that respect, the FIA and Formula 1 did a very good job of creating a full schedule in 2020 and one might expect with lessons learned and health safety processes in place, the series may be able to tack early and still create a robust 2021 schedule should more cancelations occur.
Given the success of some of the old-school tracks in 2020, the question is, will fans really mind that much?
