Chinese GP under threat likely cancelled

[fritticaldi]

The Chinese GP scheduled for 19-21 April is under threat because of the Coronavirus. There are now 8000 confirmed cases of Wuhan virus in mainland China. Major airlines have suspended travel to China. Shanghai is 800km from the center of the outbreak in Wuhan. The inaugural race in Hanoi, Vietnam scheduled for the 5th of April may also not take place as Vietnam is a neighbor of China. Will the FIA consider replacement races in Europe ?

[izzy]

you have to think getting 100,000 people together in a crowd in that region in only April would be asking for a catastrophe

[LM10]

The Chinese GP scheduled for 19-21 April is under threat because of the Coronavirus. There are now 8000 confirmed cases of Wuhan virus in mainland China. Major airlines have suspended travel to China. Shanghai is 800km from the center of the outbreak in Wuhan. The inaugural race in Hanoi, Vietnam scheduled for the 5th of April may also not take place as Vietnam is a neighbor of China. Will the FIA consider replacement races in Europe ?

Is this your opinion or are there any rumors?

[3jawchuck]

I think this is the most official information we have at the moment:
https://www.fia.com/news/coronavirus-fi ... -situation

If the situation doesn't improve then it will be cancelled. I highly doubt any replacement will be organised so there would be a gap in the schedule.

[Wass85]

Why don't they just swap it around with Suzuka, hopefully they will have sorted it towards the end of the year.

[Just_a_fan]

Now declared a global emergency by WHO. There's time to get the outbreak knocked out but the teams will need to know in good time as to what they're doing. They'll no doubt plan to be going to China, but they'll still want notice either way.

Even if they do run the race, it's possible that the grandstands will be empty as people might stay away "just in case".

[Zynerji]

Isnt China historically low attendance? I seem to remember lots of empty seats over the years...

[FrukostScones]

Isnt China historically low attendance? I seem to remember lots of empty seats over the years...

but this time 100%

[mem]

iam struggle to see it held
Wuhan in total 28 days (weeks) later mode

[izzy]

Normally they pack everyone into the grandstand opposite the pits don't they, and claim they're 'sold out'! But never release any actual numbers. Anyway i don't see that happening this year. Lucky there are so many other races on the calendar really

[Bence]

Just to put things into perspective: the common flu kills 650.000 people yearly. Where's the panic? SARS & MERS are coronavirus strains too - yet we hardly remember them. Don't live the programmed fear porn.

[NathanOlder]

Normally they pack everyone into the grandstand opposite the pits don't they, and claim they're 'sold out'! But never release any actual numbers. Anyway i don't see that happening this year. Lucky there are so many other races on the calendar really

Yeah and I don't think I've ever seen anyone in the grandstand on turn 13 before the back straight.

[izzy]

Yeah and I don't think I've ever seen anyone in the grandstand on turn 13 before the back straight.

it looks terrible doesn't it, and aren't there some others that they manage not to have any cameras covering? It's a pity as it is a really good track for the racing

[Manoah2u]

No way the GP will happen unless in the coming weeks some wonder cure appears.

No single soul will have interest going there with the infection risk, and F1 certainly doesn't want to carry the weight of being a transmitter of this killer virus.
I also highly doubt the drivers or teams themselves would want to go, so i concider the Chinese GP actually happeing on 0%.

[Wouter]

No way the GP will happen unless in the coming weeks some wonder cure appears.

No single soul will have interest going there with the infection risk, and F1 certainly doesn't want to carry the weight of being a transmitter of this killer virus.
I also highly doubt the drivers or teams themselves would want to go, so i concider the Chinese GP actually happeing on 0%.

I agree to that.