COVID-19 could affect more races this year.

[Just_a_fan]

No reason why the cars, drivers and race track personnel can't go from race to race. No need for the huge hospitality setups and associated personnel.

If the circus travels around without interacting with local populations then they don't present too much risk for a given country. They would need to operate in a bubble to make it work, of course.

[bluechris]

No reason why the cars, drivers and race track personnel can't go from race to race. No need for the huge hospitality setups and associated personnel.

If the circus travels around without interacting with local populations then they don't present too much risk for a given country. They would need to operate in a bubble to make it work, of course.

They cannot stop interaction. A huge planning happens as matter food and anything in each town that is hosting a race. They cannot cancel that, what they will eat, macaroni and M&Ms that have packed with them?.
Its logical that eventually everything will hold.

[Shrieker]

Until people with the virus start glowing in funny colors, we simply don't know how many people is infected. Think about it: what constitutes, in the eyes of your country's health system, an infected person? This makes infection rates massively dependent on the counting an testing an diagnosing systems used, and changeable with time, as it is extremely unlikely that anyone is counted in the first week of his or her infection. (Chicken pox kind of meets this criterium, kind of).

Exactly.. We have a grand total of zero confirmed cases as of now The twisted logic behind that is, "you don't get any positives if you don't test". With that kind of a mind set, it's inevitable we'll end up like iran or worse...

Looking at the numbers it is obvious, that the counting is wrong, but I do not understand the sentence about Iran. What do you mean with it?

Iran tried to hide it initially, but ofc it blew up. Something similar is bound to happen over here. And it s gonna be bad.

[Just_a_fan]

No reason why the cars, drivers and race track personnel can't go from race to race. No need for the huge hospitality setups and associated personnel.

If the circus travels around without interacting with local populations then they don't present too much risk for a given country. They would need to operate in a bubble to make it work, of course.

They cannot stop interaction. A huge planning happens as matter food and anything in each town that is hosting a race. They cannot cancel that, what they will eat, macaroni and M&Ms that have packed with them?.
Its logical that eventually everything will hold.

Look at all of the stuff they move from race to race. The fly-away races i.e. the ones that aren't in Europe, are all flown out in cargo planes and then moved to the tracks. No reason why food can't be included in that cargo.

It's really not difficult to make F1 essentially self contained, if there was a desire to do so.

The question is whether they want to do so and whether the destination countries want to help them do it.

[Shrieker]

The promoters might lose money, not sure about F1. There is probably a lot of lawyers reading insurance policies right now.

F1/Liberty shares are crashing in line with the market, but they must be quite worried that as an entertainment company their shares will fall faster if they have no entertainment product to sell in 2020

Which is counter-intuitive when you come to think of it. If people are encouraged to stay home more and more, they'll need distractions to fill their time with, and F1 is the perfect fit.

[kimetic]

The promoters might lose money, not sure about F1. There is probably a lot of lawyers reading insurance policies right now.

F1/Liberty shares are crashing in line with the market, but they must be quite worried that as an entertainment company their shares will fall faster if they have no entertainment product to sell in 2020

As I understand it, the circuits get the ticket money and more or less nothing else, so F1 will have to give something.

Then I think they'll keep going unless/until someone in the circus tests positive, which probably will be the final straw.

[astracrazy]

No reason why the cars, drivers and race track personnel can't go from race to race. No need for the huge hospitality setups and associated personnel.

If the circus travels around without interacting with local populations then they don't present too much risk for a given country. They would need to operate in a bubble to make it work, of course.

They cannot stop interaction. A huge planning happens as matter food and anything in each town that is hosting a race. They cannot cancel that, what they will eat, macaroni and M&Ms that have packed with them?.
Its logical that eventually everything will hold.

Look at all of the stuff they move from race to race. The fly-away races i.e. the ones that aren't in Europe, are all flown out in cargo planes and then moved to the tracks. No reason why food can't be included in that cargo.

It's really not difficult to make F1 essentially self contained, if there was a desire to do so.

The question is whether they want to do so and whether the destination countries want to help them do it.

Im pretty sure you cant just pack up food and fly it around the world as easy as that for the amount of food we are talking about. Countries have various restrictions on that kind of thing.

It will be pretty hard for a sport like f1 to become self contained imo when it relies so much externally. I mean, not only the teams, but marshalls, fia, stewards, external suppliers for all teams, the media, medics and the list goes on - all required to be at each race.

[jjn9128]

The problem for the circuits is how much money they've spent under the Bernie model to host an F1 event, for the most part they need the ticket revenue to remain viable. For Bahrain it's fine as the government funds the event - similarly Singapore/AbuDhabi...etc - but for events like Melbourne, Monza or Silverstone where the government doesn't subsidise there's real pressure to keep the event on. Unless FOM are willing to wave their fee to keep the season going but behind closed doors. The promoters can't reimburse the fans otherwise.

[RZS10]

^^^
What he said.

Looking at the first few races, China has been moved, Bahrain is TV only, Nam could also end up being TV only because i assume they really want that race to happen, Zandvoort is another two months out, but maybe RedBull would throw some money at it in order for it to be held. Monaco has the money to host it, that race is all about the rich showing off their yachts so they don't even need the few plebs on the grandstands ... Baku has the money - Canada would be the first race that probably needs the cash, it will be summer by then.

Maybe the situation isn't all that bad, from a sporting perspective, at least when it comes to holding the races, hard to tell whether all the teams will be able to travel etc.

[ziggy]

^^^
What he said.

Looking at the first few races, China has been moved, Bahrain is TV only, Nam could also end up being TV only because i assume they really want that race to happen, Zandvoort is another two months out, but maybe RedBull would throw some money at it in order for it to be held. Monaco has the money to host it, that race is all about the rich showing off their yachts so they don't even need the few plebs on the grandstands ... Baku has the money - Canada would be the first race that probably needs the cash, it will be summer by then.

Maybe the situation isn't all that bad, from a sporting perspective, at least when it comes to holding the races, hard to tell whether all the teams will be able to travel etc.

Forget it. It's not about promoters, teams, the FIA or how much money somebody is able to throw in. Its going ballistic now and things change by the hour.

Imagine a car doubling its speed every day. 1st day 1kmh, 2nd day 2kmh, 3rd day 4kmh and so on. By the 10th day the car is going 512 kmh. By the 11th day 1024 and so on. So what I want to say is that things may not be looking bad today, but tommorow there could (and will be) catastrophic news. If this virus doesen't stop it's spread (it's really not looking good), it's done.

It's only a matter of time now before more races get cancelled and season called off.

[Ringleheim]

The MotoGP cancellations, the lock-down in northern Italy, and the FIA stated policy that they will not hold a World Championship F1 event if all the teams can't attend, all spell trouble. Either F1 and the FIA are going to blow off their own standards and do whatever it takes to keep the season alive, OR, there are going to be a ton of cancellations.

Maranello is already under lockdown! I don't understand how the Ferrari team is supposed to be able to travel from the factory to the races freely, and if there is no Ferrari ,there is no F1.

[the EDGE]

The MotoGP cancellations, the lock-down in northern Italy, and the FIA stated policy that they will not hold a World Championship F1 event if all the teams can't attend, all spell trouble. Either F1 and the FIA are going to blow off their own standards and do whatever it takes to keep the season alive, OR, there are going to be a ton of cancellations.

Maranello is already under lockdown! I don't understand how the Ferrari team is supposed to be able to travel from the factory to the races freely, and if there is no Ferrari ,there is no F1.

Brawn said no such thing...he said if the HOST COUNTRY denies a team entry then the race can’t take place

"If a team is prevented from entering a country we can't have a race," Brawn told Reuters. "Not a Formula One world championship race, anyway, because that would be unfair.
"Obviously if a team makes its own choice not to go to a race, that's their decision," he added. "But where a team is prevented from going to a race because of a decision of the country then it's difficult to have a fair competition."

[Ringleheim]

The problem for the circuits is how much money they've spent under the Bernie model to host an F1 event, for the most part they need the ticket revenue to remain viable. For Bahrain it's fine as the government funds the event - similarly Singapore/AbuDhabi...etc - but for events like Melbourne, Monza or Silverstone where the government doesn't subsidise there's real pressure to keep the event on. Unless FOM are willing to wave their fee to keep the season going but behind closed doors. The promoters can't reimburse the fans otherwise.

Bahrain is in a position to cancel the race in order to look like good global citizens b/c the host track is the govt. of Bahrain and it has infinite money.

That is not the same sort of economics that occurs at all the races. If crowds are going to be eliminated and races become "participant only" events, I would suspect Liberty is going to have to restructure their revenue system entirely and float some money to the host racetracks.

This entire season right now is balanced delicately on the brink of total disaster.

[Ringleheim]

The MotoGP cancellations, the lock-down in northern Italy, and the FIA stated policy that they will not hold a World Championship F1 event if all the teams can't attend, all spell trouble. Either F1 and the FIA are going to blow off their own standards and do whatever it takes to keep the season alive, OR, there are going to be a ton of cancellations.

Maranello is already under lockdown! I don't understand how the Ferrari team is supposed to be able to travel from the factory to the races freely, and if there is no Ferrari ,there is no F1.

Brawn said no such thing...he said of the HOST COUNTRY denies a team entry then the race can’t take place

"If a team is prevented from entering a country we can't have a race," Brawn told Reuters. "Not a Formula One world championship race, anyway, because that would be unfair.
"Obviously if a team makes its own choice not to go to a race, that's their decision," he added. "But where a team is prevented from going to a race because of a decision of the country then it's difficult to have a fair competition."

What is the difference between a host nation preventing a team from entering, and the team's home nation preventing the team, effectively, from leaving?

The idea behind Brawn's comments is that if teams cannot freely move around the world due to governmental impositions, a race will not be held.

I.E., if a power greater than the team itself prevents it from participating in the race, the race will be cancelled. (Well, at least a world championship event will be cancelled).

Maybe they are thinking about having partial-team, non-championship-event races at some of the tracks so as to preserve whatever they can from the season. And then perhaps creating a new championship composed of fewer races that all participants attend.

I have no idea what they are going to do. It's going to be interesting.

We aren't going to see anywhere near 22 races this year, though. That's for sure.

[the EDGE]

The MotoGP cancellations, the lock-down in northern Italy, and the FIA stated policy that they will not hold a World Championship F1 event if all the teams can't attend, all spell trouble. Either F1 and the FIA are going to blow off their own standards and do whatever it takes to keep the season alive, OR, there are going to be a ton of cancellations.

Maranello is already under lockdown! I don't understand how the Ferrari team is supposed to be able to travel from the factory to the races freely, and if there is no Ferrari ,there is no F1.

Brawn said no such thing...he said of the HOST COUNTRY denies a team entry then the race can’t take place

"If a team is prevented from entering a country we can't have a race," Brawn told Reuters. "Not a Formula One world championship race, anyway, because that would be unfair.
"Obviously if a team makes its own choice not to go to a race, that's their decision," he added. "But where a team is prevented from going to a race because of a decision of the country then it's difficult to have a fair competition."

What is the difference between a host nation preventing a team from entering, and the team's home nation preventing the team, effectively, from leaving?

The idea behind Brawn's comments is that if teams cannot freely move around the world due to governmental impositions, a race will not be held.

I.E., if a power greater than the team itself prevents it from participating in the race, the race will be cancelled. (Well, at least a world championship event will be cancelled).

Maybe they are thinking about having partial-team, non-championship-event races at some of the tracks so as to preserve whatever they can from the season. And then perhaps creating a new championship composed of fewer races that all participants attend.

I have no idea what they are going to do. It's going to be interesting.

We aren't going to see anywhere near 22 races this year, though. That's for sure.

MONEY & liability