Ferrari get home race to celebrate 1,000th grand prix

FERRARI will celebrate its 1,000th grand prix at their home track in Mugello after Formula One extended the 2020 season’s calendar to ten races.

The sport will head to the Ferrari-owned track, 25 miles from Florence, for the first time, with a race at Sochi in Russia also confirmed yesterday.

The Mugello race will be the third instalment of another triple-header, following grands prix in Spa and Monza, and is set for Sunday, September 13.

The round in Russia has been penned in for September 27. It is understood that fans could be permitted at both events.

Formula One’s owners Liberty

Media remain hopeful of staging at least 15 races this year, and possibly as many as 18.

A race in Portimao in the Algarve is set to be rubberstamped in the coming weeks, and while it is yet to be confirmed, the season is expected to end with three consecutive races in the Middle East, with Bahrain to host two rounds before the season closer in Abu Dhabi on December 13.

Meanwhile, on the track, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen headed Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas in second practice for the Styrian Grand Prix in Austria.

Somerset’s Lando Norris, in his McLaren, has been hit with a three-place grid penalty for a yellow flag offence.