A shorter 2020 Formula 1 season could boost Max Verstappen and Red Bull’s bid to beat Mercedes to the world title, Nico Rosberg claims.
Already, the first eight races of this year have either been postponed or cancelled due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and now concerns are growing for those Grands Prix set to take place in June and July.
But as F1 bosses scramble to try and put together a championship, with at least 15 races the goal, the 2016 world champion believes less races could offer hope to Mercedes’ rivals.
“It increases the chances of there being a surprise champion if there’s fewer races because then of course luck plays a bigger role,” Rosberg told Sky Sports News.
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“I always thought that Red Bull and Max Verstappen were really going to be in the hunt this year and really be able to annoy Mercedes in a big way and give them a run for their money.
“If there was a shorter season maybe his chances would be even bigger.”
As Alfa Romeo team boss Fred Vasseur explained, however, the prospect of a compressed season into just five or six months means a strong start will be vital.
“It is indeed better to have a good car from the start if you have 15 races – or any amount of races – in quick succession,” he told Motorsport.
“It will be quite difficult – I will not say impossible because nothing is impossible – to come back [from a bad start to the season], at least much more difficult than if you had 10 months. That’s a fact.
“But that’s the situation and in the end, we don’t have much to complain about.”
Vasseur also believes the rate of development will be greatly reduced as teams focus on simply producing parts rather than improving them
Though he is keen to see as many races rescheduled as possible because, as the sport faces a huge loss of revenue…
“This would be to save Formula 1,” he added.