The 2020 Formula One World Championship was set to host a record 22 rounds but then the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic came and threw a spanner in the works.
The start of the season was postponed to July and organizers are reshuffling things in order to get the most rounds possible before the year is out.
Sadly, all planned American rounds—the United States, Mexican, Canadian and Brazilian grands prix—have been scrapped due to the higher number of coronavirus cases and the resulting stricter restrictions on travel and hosting of events.
In place of these rounds, the organizers have added three European locations. These include the Eifel Grand Prix in Germany to be held at the Nürburgring's grand prix track, the return of the Portuguese Grand Prix to be held at the Algarve International Circuit in Portimao, and the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix to be held at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy.
The first eight rounds were confirmed in early June and earlier in July the organizers added the Tuscan and Russian grands prix to the list, to be held at the Mugello and Sochi circuits, respectively. Italy's Mugello is owned by Ferrari and has never hosted an F1 race. The special round at Mugello this year will coincide with Ferrari's 1,000th grand prix.
It means there are currently 13 rounds on the revised 2020 F1 calendar. Due to the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, dates for additional rounds will be finalized at a later date. Organizers are confident however that we'll get between 15 and 18 rounds before the completion of the season in December.
As announced in April, the season kicked off on July 5 with the Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg, Austria. A second round in Austria, the Styrian Grand Prix, was held on July 12. The same doubleheader-style schedule will take place in August with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, United Kingdom, scheduled for Aug. 2 and then a special 70th Anniversary Grand Prix to take place at Silverstone the following Sunday, Aug. 9. The special race is to mark this year's 70th anniversary of the hosting of the first F1 race, which took place at Silverstone back in 1950.
The dates for the first 13 rounds of the revised 2020 F1 calendar are as follows:
July 5 - Austrian Grand Prix - Spielberg, Austria
July 12 - Styrian Grand Prix - Spielberg, Austria
July 19 - Hungarian Grand Prix - Budapest, Hungary
August 2 - British Grand Prix - Silverstone, United Kingdom
August 9 - 70th Anniversary Grand Prix - Silverstone, United Kingdom
August 16 - Spanish Grand Prix - Barcelona, Spain
August 30 - Belgian Grand Prix - Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
September 6 - Italian Grand Prix - Monza, Italy
September 13 - Tuscan Grand Prix - Mugello, Italy
September 27 - Russian Grand Prix - Sochi, Russia
October 11 - Eifel Grand Prix - Nürburgring, Germany
October 25 - Portuguese Grand Prix - Portimao, Portugal
November 1 - Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix - Imola, Italy
