Thursday, March 28, 2024

COVID-19: French GP set to be postponed

The French GP is set to become the tenth formula one race of the season to be called off as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

French president Emmanuel Macron announced in a television address to the nation that all public event cancellations will continue until mid-July.

The French GP itself was due to take place at the end of June so, as for what this means for the race, it’ll likely have to be moved back.

There has already been nine Grands Prix moved this season as a direct result of COVID-19.

Eight have been merely postponed and are set to take place at a later date, meanwhile the Monaco GP has been fully cancelled for 2020.

President Macron told the country that their lockdown will remain in place until May 11, after which schools and creche’s will begin to re-open progressively.

Despite that, Macron said cinemas, bars and restaurants would all remain shut and there would be no “summer festivals” before mid-July.

As it it’s staged on a permanent race circuit, the French GP will have a much better chance of going ahead at a later date than a circuit such as Baku might.

Formula One has been one of the more heavily impacted sports from the COVID-19 saga. It’s beginning to look less and less likely we will see a championship happen this year.

For a season to count as a championship, there needs to be a minimum of eight races competed.

Last week, F1’s managing director Ross Brawn said there is a way the season can be done with the minimum amount of races, but it would need to start in October at the latest.

The financial implications have been substantial on the whole sport. Last week, McLaren team boss Zak Brown warned we could lose up to four F1 teams as a result of this.

To try and help stave that off, five of the seven British based F1 teams have made use of the governments job retention scheme.

It’s a tough situation for the sport right now – fingers crossed for a swift resolution to this crisis, for the sake of the entire world.

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