Formula 1’s Covid-19 protocols are enough to allow the sport to race “anywhere” in the world, FIA director of operations Bruno Famin claims.
After the coronavirus caused the cancellation of the Australian Grand Prix at the last moment back in March, the sport and governing body worked together to put into place a structure of testing and other procedures which allowed for the safe resumption of racing back in July.
Since then, F1 has put together a 17-race schedule across Europe and the Middle East after cancelling all events in the Americas and East Asia as a result.
But when it comes to next season, Famin does believe the hurdles potentially in the sport’s path to returning to a normal schedule are mainly bureaucratic.
“For me, the only problem is the travel restrictions from the government,” he told Motorsport.com.
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“We have raced already in some countries or in some regions where the Covid situation was quite bad, and we managed it.
“I think the protocol and the people – because they are very professional – means that we have the evidence that the protocol works in all circumstances.
“The problem is the legal issue, the travel restrictions. If we have to quarantine or not, and if the local organiser has honoured the authorisation to build the event. That is the key point. It’s not the protocol itself.
“I think with the protocol we can race everywhere, anywhere.”
Rumours have suggested a provisional 2021 F1 calendar could be announced as early as this month and outgoing CEO Chase Carey has confirmed the current plans are shifting back towards the original 2020 destinations.
“We are a global sport and the reality is this year we haven’t really raced globally. We’ve largely raced in the European zone,” he said on the Beyond the Grid podcast.
“So we want to get back to making sure we have our races in the Americas, we have our races in Asia, we have races spread across the globe. That is important to us as a global sport.
“We have some great historic tracks that are obviously part of our calendar. Tracks like Silverstone, Monza, Monaco, Spa.
“So, certainly historic European tracks are an important part of the sport, but I think you’ll see a more balanced set of events across the globe on the 2021 calendar.”
At the same time, however, Carey does admit there is still some uncertainty as coronavirus surges and fades in different areas.
“We’re going to plan for a 2021 calendar that looks pretty much like a normal calendar, like the calendar we would’ve planned in January,” he confirmed.
“What we don’t really know is what will be the state of Covid next year and how we navigate through it.
“We’re planning for events, we’re planning to have fans, we’re planning to have a season that I don’t know that I’d say is ‘normal’, but certainly gets us back to normal, closer to normal on that track.”
