The summer truce advanced and extended
To reschedule as many postponed races as possible, the FIA has decided to move the traditional summer break, historically in August, and extend it from two to three weeks.
Like all major sports organizations, Liberty Media and the FIA are working on a new sports calendar for the 2020 season. A first step was taken today with the announcement that the two-week summer break in August will now take place in March-April.
Ordinarily, all teams are required to close for two full weeks in the middle of August. The reason for this self-imposed break is to allow employees from different teams to spend time with their families during school holidays, as they are away on trips for much of the year.
However, the current exceptional circumstances have led to a change: teams are now free to choose the period during which they close, knowing that the closure will be 21 days this year and not just 14. Red Bull has confirmed that its annual closure will begin on March 27, which is next Friday.
This ensures a certain level of equity between the teams since Ferrari’s operations are already closed due to the total lockdown decreed by the Italian government. Similarly, McLaren, which has 14 employees left in isolation in Australia, is also closed as the other employees returning from the Antipodes have been prohibited from returning to the Technology Center to avoid the risk of contaminating their colleagues.
The FIA and Liberty Media therefore have a new slot to schedule postponed races. Since Liberty Media states that the season will not resume until at least the end of May (in Monaco), this implies finding a potential slot for Australia, Bahrain, Vietnam, China, the Netherlands, and Spain.
It seems highly unlikely that Australia could find another slot due to the temporary nature of the circuit. Similarly, either Monaco takes place on the scheduled date, or the event will be canceled to avoid leaving the city under construction for months, just like the urban circuit designed in the streets of Hanoi. Bahrain appears compatible with a return at the end of the season, in close proximity to Abu Dhabi. The summer slot seems excluded due to the oppressive heat that prevails in the Gulf.
An ideal candidate for a race in August thus seems to be Zandvoort, whose stands will inevitably be filled by the orange crowd of Max Verstappen fans. One might imagine the race taking place shortly after the Hungarian Grand Prix to ensure a minimum of three weeks gap with Spa-Francorchamps, thereby avoiding excessive ticket sales cannibalization between the two events only 300 kilometers apart.
On the other hand, this measure has the disadvantage of depriving the entire staff of the teams of any family vacations in August, which can hardly be compensated by forced vacations confined at home in April.
With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr
