Feb.12 (GMM) British newspapers claim that China’s Formula 1 race, currently scheduled for April, will be called off within the next 24 hours.
F1’s authorities were already “monitoring” the alarming situation with the coronavirus epidemic, and the FIA has now issued a new statement.
“The FIA will evaluate the calendar of its forthcoming races and, if necessary, take any action required to help protect the global motorsport community and the wider public,” it reads.
Subsequently, multiple authoritative media sources claim that the decision to at least postpone F1’s Shanghai round has now been taken, with an announcement due in one or two days.
“From a sporting point of view, it would be bad to lose a grand prix,” Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto told Sky Italia at the launch of the team’s 2020 car on Tuesday. “It is always nice to go to China.
“Having a month without races is also not good for Formula 1.”
It is expected that F1 will officially announce the race’s postponement on Thursday or Friday, but Binotto acknowledged that rescheduling it amid the sport’s longest ever calendar will be difficult.
“Putting it later will be difficult, given that it is a very dense calendar – we already have seven back-to-back pairs of races. That period would then become very difficult (if China is rescheduled),” Binotto added.