Formula C(anceled)
Auto racing hit hard in May
As months of coronavirus cancellations drag on, May shapes up to be a rough patch of road for auto racers and their fans. Formula One,Two,Three and E all had major international and continental events postponed in the first two weeks of the month alone, and with no future dates set, athletes, organizers and locals have been left hanging with no word as to when they will be able to start their engines once again. On May 3, Formula E’s sixth season would have concluded in South Korea at the 2020 Seoul ePrix, while Formula One would have celebrated its 70th anniversary at the 2020 Dutch Grand Prix in the Netherlands on the same day. Sunday, May 10, would have been a very loud day in Spain, as the final days of the 2020 Barcelona races for FIA’s Formula Two and Three and the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix were all set to take place that day. These events on their own would have attracted thousands to their respective cities, and that’s without including the F1 Monaco Grand Prix and Formula 2 race rounds that were scheduled to happen at the end of the month. Jakarta, Indonesia, and Baku, Azerbaijan, both have F-Series races postponed, and Rally Italia, the 2020 World Rally Championship, is also awaiting a new date. So far, the only auto racing event in the near future that hasn’t yet been changed is Formula One’s 2020 French Grand Prix, scheduled for June 28. One of the most famous races and tracks in the entire world — the 1,000-kilometer endurance race at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium — has also been postponed, date TBA, from its May 2 start.The stadium alone has seating for 70,000, and with prices ranging from US$70 to nearly $700 a pop, that’s a whole lot of missing money not only for FIA but for the just-over 6,000 Belgians living the surrounding area of Stavelot, whose businesses are frequented by the thousands of tourists that have been coming to see the track each year since the first 24 Hours of Francorchamps was held way back in 1924. It is interesting that this “single-player sport” is able to paint such a vivid picture of the intertwining webs we weave across the globe. Picture this: a Canadian racing fan buys a ticket on an American airline to stay at a hotel in Germany, before joining their Indian friend to watch a Spanish driver race against their Korean competitor on a French racetrack in Belgium. With each passing day, it becomes more and more clear that in this crisis we are, as we have always been, connected.