Two Canadians will drive in this abbreviated F1 season
Two Canadian drivers are in the mix but there are still many unknowns for 2020
After a 16-week delay and with fingers crossed, an abbreviated Formula One season gets underway in front of empty grandstands at this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix.
Much about the 2020 campaign remains unknown — including the final number of races and whether the Canadian Grand Prix will figure.
What is known, as of this writing, is that a full roster of 10 teams and 20 drivers are to line up on the starting grid at the Red Bull Ring on Sunday for the first of eight scheduled events, all in Europe.
The second race, dubbed the Styrian Grand Prix, is to take place next weekend at the same scenic mountain venue. Then it’s Hungary, Britain (two races at Silverstone), Spain, Belgium and Italy.
All pandemic-permitting, of course.
This first part of the calendar extends to Sept. 6. On Thursday, F1 CEO Chase Carey teased a second set of races is to be announced “in the next few weeks.”
These are to include non-european races, possibly some with limited fan attendance. The target is a total of 15-18 events, a respectable number for a proper championship. (There were to have been a record 22 races this season.)
Carey did not confirm destinations, but the Quebec car-racing site poleposition.ca reported the Canadian Grand Prix is pencilled in for Oct. 9-11 at Circuit Gilles-villeneuve — something local organizers wouldn’t confirm.
For what it’s worth, the story contains sufficient details to lend it credibility. And cyclists who use the track have reported seeing work being done at the facilities. But there are also reasons to be skeptical — and not only because October is pushing it weather-wise.
Given current travel complications, logic suggests F1 would be reluctant to cross the Atlantic unless it can piggyback one or more of its other GPS in the Americas. But it’s hard to imagine travelling to the U.S. (Texas, no less) or Brazil or Mexico.
“They seem to be having a higher incidence of infections than other places,” Chase acknowledged on formula1.com. “So (we’re) trying to get guidance from these places on what’s possible, what we can do.”
Beyond that, the plan is to end the season in Abu Dhabi in mid-december, about a month later than usual.
Calendar aside, Montreal is well represented in other ways — with two native sons on the starting grid for the first time in F1 history: Lance Stroll and newcomer Nicholas Latifi.
Stroll, 21, returns for his fourth season and his second at Racing Point — the outfit bankrolled by a consortium headed by his billionaire father — while Latifi, 25, makes his debut with Williams, Stroll’s former team.
Of the two, Stroll is expected to make the bigger splash in a car that raised eyebrows during winter tests, PRE-COVID. That’s because the Racing Point looks suspiciously like a copy and paste of a car from a rival’s garage. And not just any clunker, but last year’s championship winner. Cynics have taken to calling it the “Pink Mercedes.”
In any case, some believe Stroll and teammate Sergio Pérez are poised to graduate from midpack to regularly challenging for podiums, as Lawrence Stroll & Co. have spared no expense in their efforts to build a genuine contender. Question is, can Stroll Jr. rise to the challenge?
For Latifi, too, family money helped pave his road to F1. His father, Michael, is the founder and owner of Ontario-based Sofina Foods, and holds a minority stake in Mclaren Group.
Nicholas Latifi presumably feels less pressure than Stroll, though. The bar is considerably lower at Williams, which is mired in financial difficulties and is expected (again) to be bringing up the rear of the pack.
But that doesn’t mean he can’t make a mark. The best measure of any driver is how he stacks up against his teammate in an equal car. It would be a significant accomplishment if Latifi can surprise the highly regarded George Russell.
Of course, surprises in F1 have been too few and far between. Mercedes has won six straight constructors championships. Lewis Hamilton has an equal number of drivers’ titles — and nothing suggests he won’t make it seven, tying Michael Schumacher’s record.
On Friday, during practice in Austria, Hamilton posted the quickest lap times of the day. For him, there’s nothing new about social distancing from his rivals.
Then again, amid the unpredictability of a global pandemic, who knows what might happen?
TV viewers focused on the racing might notice little change when they tune in. Drivers are cocooned in their cockpits as always. In this way, it makes sense for F1 to be among the first sports to “reopen.”
But things are different behind the scenes. Fewer team members are allowed on site, and they must work in “clusters” and “bubbles.” Everyone is subject to temperature and swab tests. All this can spell trouble for some, and opportunity for others.
Or, as Red Bull team principal Christian Horner predicts: “It’s going to be a smash-and-grab kind of season.”
And what’s wrong with that?