The pandemic required changes to the format of a race weekend, which included abandoning the drivers' parade and pre-race assembly for the host venue's national anthem. The FIA introduced limits to the number of team personnel who could be on the starting grid to prepare cars and changed the cut-off times for cars to leave pit lane to minimise the amount of time team personnel spent on the grid. Tyre supplier Pirelli was also required to provide an identical allocation of tyre compounds to all teams and drivers.
Where Pirelli were previously required to announce compounds for a race several weeks in advance, this window was reduced to two weeks, allowing them to respond to anticipated changes to the calendar. On 10 July, the Russian Grand Prix was re-added to the calendar on its originally scheduled date, and the first Tuscan Grand Prix was announced at the Mugello Circuit, the first time the circuit would host a Formula One World Championship race. Later in July, the return of the Nürburgring and the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola to the calendar was revealed, along with the debut of the Algarve International Circuit. These races were named the Eifel and Emilia Romagna Grands Prix respectively, with the return of the Portuguese Grand Prix for the first time since the 1996 season.
The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix took place over a shortened two-day weekend, with a single 90 minute practice session taking place on Saturday morning. This marks the first race at the Nürburgring since 2013 and at Imola since 2006, and also the first time that a country hosts three Grands Prix since the 1982 season. As has been the case for some time now, in the United Kingdom, Sky Sports F1 have near exclusive coverage rights for the season. They will be showing all practice sessions, qualifying sessions, sprint qualifying and races throughout the season. "We are excited to announce the 2022 calendar as we prepare to enter a new era for the sport with brand new regulations and cars for next year that are designed to create closer racing," said Stefano Domenicali , President and CEO of Formula 1. "This season has been incredible so far with great battles on the track, large audiences tuning in and fans returning to the races after the impact of the pandemic.
The postponement would mean a gap in the F1 calendar of over a month, between the now opening round in Bahrain on 28th March and the yet-to-be-confirmed replacement for the cancelled Vietnam Grand Prix on 2nd May. With the announcement of the delays to two races, it was also confirmed that the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, at the historic Imola circuit, will return for a second year to plug the gap. Imola hosted an emergency race in 2020 to help fill the disrupted season, and was popular with fans, after challenging the drivers with its more old school layout, despite proving slightly tricky for racing.
No announcement has been made yet about what race will take place on the empty May date, but speculation is mounting that Portimao in Portugal will also step back in as it did in 2020. The season-opening Australian Grand Prix was expected to go ahead and all teams and drivers arrived at the venue as planned. Three days before the race was due to take place, McLaren announced their withdrawal from the event after a team member tested positive for the virus. This led to the Grand Prix being cancelled altogether the following morning. Later that day, it was announced that the Bahrain Grand Prix would be postponed rather than closed to spectators, as would the inaugural Vietnamese Grand Prix.
Twenty-two Grands Prix were originally scheduled for the 2020 World Championship. However, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in numerous race cancellations and postponements. A rescheduled calendar consisted of seventeen Grands Prix, nine from the original 2020 calendar and eight other Grands Prix, while the other thirteen original 2020 races were cancelled. This also meant that the season started with two races in Austria, and later on in the season there were also two races at Silverstone Circuit along with two races at Bahrain International Circuit.
Each race is the minimum number of laps that exceeds a total distance of 305 km (189.5 mi). Under the sporting regulations, a minimum of eight races must take place for the season to be considered a championship. The 22 events originally scheduled for the 2020 F1 season included the new Vietnam Grand Prix, to be held at a street circuit in Hanoi during April, and the Dutch Grand Prix, returning to the schedule following a 35-year absence. Both were among the group of races which were postponed early in the year. The final race of the season will take place in Abu Dhabi on 12th December 2021.
There were two raced in Bahrain in 2020's COVID-19 effected schedule, with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton winning the race on the 'normal' F1 layout before Sergio Perez took a sensational first ever F1 win on the shorter outer loop. Imola returned to the calendar in 2020, as part of the schedule redrafted due to the pandemic, and received a reprieve for 2021, in effect taking the April slot occupied by China. That situation has been replicated for 2022 and it will again run under the Emilia Romagna title.
Italy's other event, at Monza, has been slotted in as the final of a triple-header involving Belgium's Spa-Francorchamps and the Netherlands' Zandvoort, mirroring the 2021 schedule. Elsewhere in the European stretch of the calendar France's event has moved back by a month, forming a double header with Hungary, and it is a grand prix that looks precarious long-term. France's existing contract expires after 2022 and it is not an overwhelmingly popular event. They join the rescheduled Bahrain and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix as the final four races of the season, bringing the calendar to seventeen races. Drivers who participated in free practice sessions were eligible for additional FIA Super Licence points. Any driver who completed a minimum 100 km during a free practice session received an additional Super Licence point on the condition that they do not commit a driving infraction.
Drivers could only accrue ten Super Licence points across a three-season period from free practice sessions. The rules around helmet designs were relaxed with drivers allowed to change their design as many times as they wanted between races, having previously been restricted to a base design and one permitted major design change since 2015. The Chinese Grand Prix in April was the first race to be cancelled, weeks before the scheduled start of the championship.
Pre-season testing went ahead and the teams headed to Melbourne for the opening race of the year, but the Australian Grand Prix was called off on the day practice was due to begin. All other team lineups remain the same (albeit with Max electing to exercise the champion's right to use number 1 instead of his usual driver number 33). However, behind the scenes, Formula 2's new champion Oscar Piastri has officially been made reserve driver at Alpine. One key regulation change this year means that every regular driver has to sit out at least one FP1 session during the season, to encourage teams to evaluate up-and-coming talent or give their test and reserve drivers some on-track experience.
Following on from the trial of three sprint qualifying races in 2021, F1 has proposed a doubling of that to six for the upcoming season. The sprint races will be approximately 100km – or a third of a grand prix distance – and will run on Saturday, with the traditional three-part qualifying setting the grid for the sprint and taking place on the Friday. This promoted Verstappen to second, McLaren driver Lando Norris to third, and Alexander Albon to fourth. In an eventful race, featuring three safety car periods and the retirements of nine drivers, Bottas won, ahead of the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and Norris. Hamilton crossed the line in second place, but received a five-second time penalty after a collision with Albon, who soon retired; after the penalty was applied, Hamilton finished fourth, ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr., Sergio Pérez and Pierre Gasly. In a statement in late April, Formula One CEO Chase Carey declared the intention to begin the season on 5 July and a target to hold between 15 and 18 races overall.
In June, the first eight races of a rescheduled calendar were confirmed, with the season expected to begin on 5 July with the Austrian Grand Prix. This revised calendar included two newly named one-off events — both second races at the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone — known as the Styrian and the 70th Anniversary Grands Prix respectively. In early April, Ross Brawn suggested that a rescheduled calendar of 18 or 19 races would be possible should racing begin in July, and that the opening round "is most likely to be in Europe", potentially without spectators. He also raised the possibility of Grand Prix events being reduced to two days in order to ease pressure on logistical operations. However, Alfa Romeo Racing managing director Frédéric Vasseur cautioned that a condensed calendar could escalate the costs of competing and put smaller teams at risk of financial collapse. ], who pointed out that the race sanctioning fees paid by event organisers contributed to the prize money awarded to all teams at the end of the year.
This money is awarded proportionally based on the teams' World Constructors' Championship positions and forms a significant part of a team's budget for the upcoming year. With fewer races and the prize structure remaining fixed, teams were concerned that they would suffer a significant financial loss. The 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship was the motor racing championship for Formula One cars which was the 71st running of the Formula One World Championship. It marked the 70th anniversary of the first Formula One World Drivers' Championship. The championship was recognised by the governing body of international motorsport, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile , as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars.
Drivers and teams competed for the titles of World Drivers' Champion and World Constructors' Champion, respectively. Originally scheduled to feature a record 22 races, the F1 season was lopped to just 13, given the coronavirus pandemic's effect on the sports world. Formula 1 has had 15 races either canceled, postponed or pending for the remainder of the year. The 2020 F1 calendar was inevitably impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, but nevertheless featured 17 Grands Prix across little more than six months. It was a season dominated by Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes, the former matching Michael Schumacher's record seven drivers' titles, the latter taking a record seventh consecutive championship double. Max Verstappen's star continued to rise – he won twice for Red Bull and was on the podium at every race he finished bar one – and there were maiden victories for AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly and Racing Point's Sergio Perez.
Formula One added four more races to this year's calendar on Tuesday and said "a limited number of fans" will be able to attend some of the remaining events in the pandemic-disrupted season. Last week, officials released a "limited amount" of tickets for Friday and Saturday. Fans can purchase Friday-only and Saturday-only ticketsthrough COTA's website.The first two days of the race weekend are for practice and qualifying sessions. Portugal returned to the F1 calendar for the first time in nearly two decades in 2020, after the Algarve International Circuit, near the southern Portuguese town of Portimao, stepped in to help fill the 2020 season. That race was a hit with both drivers and fans, and the circuit will return for a second season to take the May date.
At the Bahrain Grand Prix, Hamilton claimed his 11th win of the year, followed by Verstappen and Alexander Albon in second and third. The race was marred by a serious accident involving Haas driver Romain Grosjean, who hit a barrier at the start of the race after making contact with the AlphaTauri of Daniil Kvyat. Grosjean's car broke in two and burst into flames as it split the barrier.
Numerous safety features allowed him to escape the crash with only burns to the hands, though they would prove severe enough to exclude him from the remainder of the season, it would be Grosjean's final race with Haas after over 9 years in Formula One. Pérez surrendered third place after an engine failure, putting him out of the race, whilst teammate Stroll flipped at the restart after contact with Kvyat. The Dutch Grand Prix was cancelled entirely in late May, with organisers of the event stating that they would prefer to host the revived race with spectators in attendance in 2021 rather than without spectators in 2020.
Formula One confirmed the cancellation of the Azerbaijan, Singapore and Japanese Grands Prix in June. In July the Brazilian, Canadian, Mexico City and United States Grands Prix were formally cancelled amidst rising virus cases and travel restrictions in the Americas. However, organisers of the Brazilian Grand Prix disputed the claims of Formula One Management and were unhappy with their race being cancelled without further consultation. In August the cancellation of the Chinese Grand Prix was announced, followed, in October, by the cancellation of the inaugural Vietnamese Grand Prix.
Italian-based teams Ferrari and AlphaTauri expressed concern about the spread of the disease and its effect on the championship. As Italy suffered one of the worst outbreaks of the virus, both teams were concerned about the ability of their staff to leave the quarantine zone established in northern Italy and to enter host nations. Pre-season testing in Barcelona proceeded as planned, with all teams and drivers completing the six days of testing. Liberty Media initially expected that the 2020 calendar would consist of twenty-one Grands Prix and that any new races would come at the expense of existing events, but later negotiated an agreement with the teams to allow up to twenty-two Grands Prix.
Several further changes were made between the 2019 and 2020 calendars, with the German Grand Prix discontinued and the Mexican Grand Prix planned to be rebranded as the Mexico City Grand Prix before it was cancelled. A day before the British Grand Prix weekend, Racing Point driver Sergio Pérez tested positive for the coronavirus and was ruled out of the race weekend. After seeking clarification from Public Health England, Racing Point stated that they intended to let Pérez race in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix pending a negative coronavirus test. This re-test came back positive and so Pérez was also unable to take part in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. He was replaced for both races by Nico Hülkenberg, who had raced for the team's predecessor Force India in 2012 and from 2014 to 2016, and last raced in Formula One at the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Pérez had a negative coronavirus test result the week preceding the Spanish Grand Prix weekend and he competed in the Grand Prix having been cleared by the FIA to return.
Pérez's Racing Point teammate Lance Stroll felt ill prior to the Eifel Grand Prix and tested positive for the coronavirus on the day of the race. The championship was originally due to start in March, but the start was postponed until July in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season was due to be contested over a record of 22 Grands Prix, but as some races were cancelled and new races were added to replace them, a total of 17 races were run. The season started in July with the Austrian Grand Prix and ended in December with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first eight rounds of the championship were run behind closed doors, with the rest of the races being run at a reduced capacity or also behind closed doors due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2020 F1 calendar was originally scheduled to feature a record 22 races. However the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic caused extensive disruption to the series' plans. Many races were cancelled, others rescheduled, and some new events added to make up for lost ones.
Aussie F1 legend Mark Webber returns to offer expert opinions and inside knowledge of F1 qualifying and the big race on Sunday, when he commentates alongside Matt White. Mark and Matt will be joined by expert F1 commentator Tom Clarkson and F1 great Alan Jones, who celebrates 40 years since he won the driver world championship. Alan will commentate Friday's practice round as well as special comments across the weekend. Every car will be built to a completely new spec, a number of drivers are moving teams, and we have one new rookie and a returning familiar face on the grid next time out.
In the end it was Max who won his first title, passing Lewis on the final lap of the Abu Dhabi grand prix following a controversial interpretation of the existing safety car rules in the FIA Sporting Regulations. Mercedes unsuccessfully attempted to protest the decision and later decided to withdraw an appeal. And in the aftermath, there were calls from some fans for Formula 1 race director Michael Masi to step down or for the FIA to dismiss him from the role. The Canadian GP returns while the Chinese GP remains on hiatus due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as the Formula One 2022 schedule will make up a record-setting, 23-race calendar.
Five circuits joined the 2020 F1 calendar to help bring up the numbers after a mass cancellation of events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was hoped by many fans that some may return and, although not on the original calendar, at least one already has, with the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola taking place in April. Portimao's exciting track in the Algarve region of southern Portugal is expected to follow soon. Singapore, meanwhile, has been included subject to reaching a new commercial agreement.
The night race will feature as the middle event of a triple header with Russia and Japan in early October. Next year is set to be the final time that Russia's Sochi Autodrom features on Formula 1's calendar as the country's grand prix is slated to move to Igora Drive, near St. Petersburg, from 2023. Australia has been given an April date for its event at Melbourne's reprofiled Albert Park circuit. Sporting events have been held in the country during the pandemic but have taken place under strict quarantine conditions that remain incompatible for Formula 1. The 2022 championship season begins in Bahrain on March 20 and ends in Abu Dhabi on November 20. Hamilton was ruled out of the Sakhir Grand Prix after testing positive for the coronavirus and was replaced by Williams' George Russell.
Russell impressed by taking the lead from new teammate and pole-sitter Bottas and led for 59 laps, before being taken out of contention by first a tyre mix-up by Mercedes and then a late-race puncture, eventually finishing 9th. Despite being dropped to last position through a lap 1 collision with Leclerc and Verstappen, Pérez took his first race victory, followed by Esteban Ocon taking his first podium finish in 2nd and Stroll finishing 3rd. With his win, Pérez took the record for the most race starts before a first victory, with 190 race starts, beating Mark Webber's record of 130 starts before his win at the 2009 German Grand Prix. The inaugural Tuscan Grand Prix, Ferrari's 1000th Grand Prix start, resulted in Hamilton's sixth race win of the season, and Mercedes's third 1–2 finish. Bottas overtook Hamilton into turn one before a major collision at turn two caused the retirement of both Verstappen and Gasly. This brought out the safety car for 8 laps to allow for the debris to be cleared.
At the end of the safety car period, a major misunderstanding in the upper midfield led to a large collision down the pit straight, causing the retirement of Nicholas Latifi, Kevin Magnussen, Giovinazzi and Sainz Jr., and a red flag period. At the first restart, Hamilton overtook Bottas and led the race from there onwards. On lap 42, Ricciardo looked poised for his first podium since the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix when Stroll's Racing Point spun off the track due to a puncture, causing the second red flag of the race. This was the first time since the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix that there were two red flag periods in one race. Red Bull's Alexander Albon overtook Ricciardo in the closing laps, earning his first ever podium and the first podium for a Thai driver in Formula One.
The Belgian Grand Prix was won by Lewis Hamilton, who led every lap and won by 8 seconds over teammate Valtteri Bottas who finished second ahead of Max Verstappen. Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth, setting the fastest lap on the last lap. On lap 11, Antonio Giovinazzi crashed at Campus corner; one of the wheels of his car came loose and hit the front right suspension of George Russell's car, causing both drivers to retire from the race. Renault achieved a finish of P4 and P5, equalling their best result since their return to the sport in 2016.
