After promising testing sessions in Barcelona, everyone was eagerly anticipating a great and exciting season of racing. However, this was all ripped apart just a mere day before the season launch in Australia due to the announcement of a McLaren team member testing positive for COVID. A meeting between the FIA( Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile), Formula 1 and the other team principals had a unanimous decision to cancel the session indefinitely, up until the situation improved.
A major rewrite of the technical regulations, that were initially supposed to happen in 2021, has now been delayed to 2022. This has led to teams carrying over their cars for this year to 2021. The budget cap had been set initially at $175 million but some teams had wanted a more drastic limit closer to $100 million to ensure the sport survives the crisis.
F1's teams react to COVID
Since Italy was one of the first countries to be hit by the pandemic, Scuderia Ferrari was one of the first teams to react to this and were able to conceive, design and build a pulmonary ventilator in just 5 weeks. They also donated 10 million euros and 150 ventilators to fight COVID-19, and turned their Maranello factory over to producing various other counter measures.UK based F1 teams have responded to the governments need to boost supply of critical care equipment to help the NHS( United Kingdom National Health Service) deal with the influx of corona virus patients. Red Bulls team principal, Christian Horner, states, “F1's ability to problem-solve is second to none and our ability to make rapid prototype parts is again second to none.” Moreover red bull has been able to create a few prototypes that are in the process of approval and will hit the markets soon!
Finally some good news
This season will be like no other, as races will happen in the same location two weekends in a row. Teams will start with practice sessions on the 3rd of July in Austria. Fans will not be allowed to sit and spectate and strict safety precautions will be a priority. Only 8 races in Europe have been confirmed and the last one being in Monza on the 6th of September. There is a plan to have a maximum of 15-18 races in this season, ending it all by winter and squeezing back to back weekends of action packed racing depending on the situation.
Writer: Vansh Rana
11/06/2020
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