F1 Kicks Off Eight-Race Season Starting July 3 in Austria

Formula 1 is a machine that wasn't designed to be stopped, and the shutdown forced by the outbreak of COVID-19 has come at a huge cost to its participants. But there is at last a light at the end of the tunnel, as F1 announced Tuesday morning in conjunction with the FIA that racing will at last resume on the first weekend of July, at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

Scheduled for July 3-5, the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix is the first of eight such races confirmed by the FIA, four of which will be doubleheaders on consecutive weekends at the same track. Austria will host one of said twofers, with a second Grand Prix weekend on the books for July 10-12; the weekend immediately following the opening round. 2020's confirmed season will unfold as follows.

• July 3-5: Austrian Grand Prix
• July 10-12: Styrian Grand Prix (also held at Red Bull Ring)
• July 17-19: Hungarian Grand Prix
• July 31-August 2: British Grand Prix
• August 7-9: 70th Anniversary Grand Prix (also held at Silverstone Circuit)
• August 14-16: Spanish Grand Prix
• August 28-30: Belgian Grand Prix
• September 4-6: Italian Grand Prix

To minimize the spread of COVID-19, F1 anticipates that it will have to host these and any subsequent races without spectators, and enforce a rigorous health testing regimen within the paddock. F1 hopes to host as many as 18 Grands Prix total by the end of 2020, though it has yet to finalize details regarding the 10 possible remaining races.

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