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Official Coronavirus Update thread

Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2020 4:47 pm
by Mod Aqua
Given the fact that the COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak is set to have a significant impact on this F1 season, and potentially the next one too, it makes sense to have a sticky thread covering the state of play.

I will leave it open for people to post links to any new information that comes to light, as it will be a fast moving story, however this thread is not intended for discussion, there is an official discussion thread here: http://forum.planet-f1.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=15881

Please only post links to information from credible F1 news sources - so major (and reputable) news website or motorsports, or tweets from established F1 journalists. Please try and link to the primary source too. As a general rule of the thumb, if the publication doesn't have staff who attend the races, or the journalist being quoted doesn't attend the races then it is unlikely to pass the credibility test.

The purpose of this thread is to keep people well informed, so a higher than normal minimum bar is asked for.

This post will be modified by the mods as and when more news comes in.

Impacted Races:
Races that have been officially listed as 'postponed' with no new date arranged will be considered cancelled until a new date is officially announced

Australia - Cancelled
Vietnam - Cancelled (with plans to reschedule)
Bahrain - Cancelled (with plans to reschedule)
China - Cancelled (with plans to reschedule)
Spain - Cancelled
Dutch - Cancelled (with plans to reschedule)
Monaco - Cancelled
Baku - Cancelled (with plans to reschedule)
Canada - Cancelled (with plans to reschedule)
France - Cancelled


Notable Incidents:
March 12th 2020 - a McLaren employee tests positive for COVID-19 and McLaren withdraw their team from the Australian Grand Prix
March 13th 2020 - Australian Grand Prix cancelled after all by 3 teams pull out / Bahrain and Vietnam officially listed as postponed
March 15th Australian GP organisers looking at possibility to reschedule
March 18th 2021 reg change delayed to 2022, with 2021 to use minimally updated 2020 cars
March 19th F1 Summer break moved to March/April to free up summer break for rescheduling races
March 20th Dutch, Spanish races postponed, Monaco cancelled
March 22nd Baku officially listed as postponed.
March 24th 2020 - Most of Europe (including France, UK, Italy, Spain, Germany) now under some form of lockdown / reduced social mobility
April 7 - Canada officially announced postponement
April 27 - French GP cancelled - Liberty states they intend to start season in Austria

Re: Official Coronavirus Update thread

Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2020 6:26 am
by Mod Aqua
Also, a couple of pertinant points to be made regarding threads and posting related to the Coronavirus outbreak.

This is going to be the most significant story of the season as the effects are going to be widespread and affect multiple races, and potentially next season as well. However, at the same time while it's affecting Formula 1, it's not a Formula 1 issue - it's a global issue. We therefore don't want the front page of the forum to become littered with dozens of Coronavirus threads, so try to keep any discussion about Coronavirus in the official discussion thread, or the official race thread of any races affected.

Any new threads that get started will be merged into either the official Corona thread, or the official race thread, unless the thread topic offers some substantial differentiation to make it worthy of its own thread (and we will apply a high bar for meeting this criteria)


Secondly, and this is not a rule or directive, just more a guidelines / observation.

Remember this is a global pandemic and it is causing a large number of infections and deaths, and is growing at an exponential rate. How you want to to interprete the seriousness of the impact of the outbreak is your personal choice, but at the time of writing this around 5,000 people have been killed by the disease (a number that is only going to increase) - so please don't trivialise that when composing your responses.

China, Italy and Korea have all taken extreme actions that have had a massive negative impact on their economies. This is not something they would have done if this is something that would have just 'blown over' if they had done nothing.

Re: Official Coronavirus Update thread

Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2020 11:29 am
by Herb
Unconfirmed so far, but looks like F1 will be suspended until May: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/51871615

Re: Official Coronavirus Update thread

Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2020 1:40 pm
by Herb
Now confirmed:

Re: Official Coronavirus Update thread

Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2020 5:45 am
by Mod Aqua
Updated top post - given how quickly the situation is changing I have taken off the sources as it's impossible to keep up with, so if it has been widely reported and mentioned definitely by at least one of F1.com / BBC / SkySports / Motorsports.com I will consider it to be official

Re: Official Coronavirus Update thread

Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2020 8:15 pm
by Mod Aqua
Canada postponed according to official F1 website

Re: Official Coronavirus Update thread

Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2020 3:45 pm
by ALESI
If the season really is going to start in July at Austria then Mercedes better start hiring back all the 'self employed' machinists they've let go from Brixworth...

Re: Official Coronavirus Update thread

Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2020 8:31 am
by JN23
Some news! The French Grand Prix will not go ahead in 2020. https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... gm4nQ.html

A lot of reports on twitter that F1 have confirmed they intend to start the season on the first weekend in July in Austria and plan for 15-18 races

Re: Official Coronavirus Update thread

Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2020 12:09 pm
by Herb
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... kEt9e.html

Expected start to the season on the 5th July in Austria.

First races without fans, later races hopefully with fans.