Nico Rosberg has suggested Formula 1 push for 16 races in 24 weeks as a 2020 season following the coronavirus.
By the day, the fate of this year’s championship appears to get bleaker and bleaker with the Belgian Grand Prix now likely to be postponed after the country announced mass gatherings would be banned until August 31.
Even so, F1 bosses are still hoping to form some kind of calendar starting in July but while Ross Brawn talks of two triple-headers with a one-week break to begin, the 2016 champion is a little more realistic.
“I would love to see eight double-headers at the very least so we get 16 races,” Rosberg said, speaking to Reuters.
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In theory, F1 only needs eight rounds to hold a valid championship while 15 is the minimum for TV broadcasting contracts to be met.
However, the German is keen to see a higher number for competition reasons.
“Statistically, of course, the fewer races you have the more likely that it is an outsider is going to be world champion,” he said.
“If the favourite, like Lewis Hamilton, has a stroke of bad luck that could really switch things round which is not great because for a championship you want to take away luck as much as possible.
“You want to have it as wide and as big as possible.”
