New season could be pushed back to June

Formula One bosses are set to delay the start of the new season until June after the Bahrain and Vietnam Grands Prix were postponed.

The sport’s traditional curtainraiser at Melbourne’s Albert Park, due to take place this weekend, was officially axed yesterday following McLaren’s withdrawal from the event after one of their mechanics tested positive for coronavirus.

Next weekend’s behind-closeddoors race in Bahrain, and the inaugural round in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi, which had been pencilled in for April 5, have since been called off.

It is understood the view of the sport’s travelling circus is to delay the campaign until the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, pencilled in for June 7, at the earliest.

As it stands, the season is due to end in Abu Dhabi on November 29, but the PA news agency now understands the race could be pushed back until December to allow room for next month’s already-postponed Chinese Grand Prix, and the race in Hanoi could be squeezed back into a rejigged calendar.

The Dutch Grand Prix, the first in the Netherlands for 36 years, is due to take place on May 3, but might now be moved to August, with the sport’s customary summer break scrapped. As many as 18 races might be staged in six months.

The historic Monaco Grand Prix, set for May 24, could become the sport’s biggest casualty, while there may also be no room for the races in Bahrain and Spain. There are no plans for the round in Melbourne to be rescheduled for later in the year.

“The scale of this is massive,” said F1 motorsport boss Ross Brawn. “We want to try and build the Formula One season back up, but we have to be realistic when that can start again.

“The teams survive on their funding from races. Each race you lose, it has an impact.

“There is a strong resilience in Formula One and we have got plans to rebuild the season and try to accommodate as many of the lost races.”

The campaign was thrown into chaos after teams decided against staging the race in Australia.

It is understood they voted 7-3 in favour of the race being cancelled, leading F1 and its governing body, the FIA, to call off the event.

Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes team originally called for the race to go ahead during the opening round of voting.

But the world champions changed their minds following a tense meeting involving the sport’s team principals and Brawn in a downtown Melbourne hotel.

Motorsport boss Ross Brawn.