Red Bull is pushing ahead as normal with preparations for the Austrian Grand Prix on July 5, Helmut Marko says.
Currently, the first eight races of the 2020 season have either been postponed or cancelled, with Azerbaijan the latest to be called off on Monday due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Uncertainty is also growing over the Canadian GP set for June 14th, but after that Formula 1 is scheduled to travel to Paul Ricard in France on June 28 and then to the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg a week later.
“It has to go ahead,” Marko told Oe24 on whether there were any question marks over the Austrian race.
“Our marketing activities should start in mid-May, and we will keep all plans up to date.”
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Red Bull’s commitment to proceed with the race comes after F1 CEO Chase Carey indicated a desire for a 15-18 race season starting this summer in a statement on Monday.
But the company’s eagerness to proceed with its home race as planned could also be linked to the considerable financial impact a cancellation would have.
Indeed, in the same interview, Marko praised F1’s decision to delay the new regulations, initially set to be introduced in 2021, until 2022.
“It makes a lot of sense,” the straight-talking Red Bull advisor said.
“All teams are facing a loss of revenue. If five races are cancelled, $100m will be lost.
“But now we have stable regulations. If we freeze that, the cost will drop enormously.”
An additional point to that is now the teams will have to develop their all-new 2022 cars under the $175m budget cap, though Marko doesn’t see a massive difference in that fact.
“The regulation changes will fall below the planned budget cap,” he stated.
