Formula 1 may be forced into more calendar changes this year as questions grow over the Canadian and Brazilian Grand Prix’s.
According to a report in Spanish media, Covid-19 restrictions in Canada and the ongoing high infection rate in Sao Paulo means F1 bosses to consider alternative venues.
In the case of Montreal, a decision will need to be made soon to prepare the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for its June date. And it is notable that Silverstone is now being considered to trial the new ‘super-qualifying’ weekend format instead of Canada.
If the race is cancelled, Turkey’s Istanbul Park is thought to be the natural choice to step in given its geographic proximity to Azerbaijan, which will host its race in Baku the week before.
Meanwhile, if the Brazil race can’t go ahead in November, a second trip in Bahrain has been touted, potentially leading to further changes as the Australian GP is now scheduled between Interlagos and the Saudi Arabian GP.
Officially, F1 has denied the report, telling Formula1News.co.uk that “both of these suggestions are wrong”.
However, during the opening race weekend in Bahrain, McLaren CEO Zak Brown did anticipate further movement in the calendar.
“We think there’s going to be an impact, the calendar has already been changed once,” he said.
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“I think the sport did an awesome job getting 17 races in half a year. It’s great we started in March.
“I think we will lose a race or two. Not long ago, as you all know, the calendar was 15, 16, 17 or 18 races, so I think if we can get in 20 races over a normal calendar season that is a very complete Formula 1 schedule.
“I think we’ll just have to see how things and vaccines roll out over the course of the year and see which countries may or may not be impacted,” he added.
“I’m confident we’ll get in 20 races through a March to December timeframe.”