Early next week it will become clear whether the Formula 1 season can start on July 5 in Austria, the government of that country has announced on Thursday. It is planned that two races without an audience will be held on the Red Bull Ring.
Rudolf Anschober, the Austrian health minister, reported that a decision will be made “immediately after Pentecost”. “We are in fact done with processing all the information and plans,” Anschober said at a news conference.
The Austrian government will release a relaxation of a number of corona measures on Tuesday. Then it will most likely also become clear whether the Formula 1 races can continue. “Our experts look at this very carefully, because this is of course an important decision and sends an important signal to the rest of the country,” said Anschober.
Earlier on Thursday it was announced that the Dutch Grand Prix will not be held this year. Zandvoort does not want a race without an audience.
Teams are allowed to take eighty people to races
Motor racing association FIA announced on Thursday that all teams may take up to eighty employees to the races without an audience. They can arrive on a small runway with charter flights a few hundred meters from the circuit in Austria.
The majority of the ten Formula 1 teams are from Great Britain. There are also two Italian and a Swiss racing stable. In total there will be about two thousand people working around the Grands Prix, who will be finished without an audience.
The corona figures in Austria reached their peak in early April. The curve has since flattened out: since 8 May, no more than five deaths have been reported in one day. The total death rate from the coronavirus in Austria is 668, affecting the country relatively mildly.
The race in Austria has been won by Max Verstappen in the last two years. Formula 1 hopes to organize a few races in Europe in the summer months. Silverstone in England and the Hungaroring in Hungary are in any case in the picture.
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