Xu Bin, Shanghai Sports Bureau Boss, reveals that the Government is still undecided on the request of Formula 1 for double header this year in China.
Formula 1 has announced the resumption of the season 2020 with eight races for the first half. The owners are pursuing to revive the season and exploit every opportunity this year. They are pushing for extra races and finalise the second half of the season as early as possible.
Covid-19 has made the world stalled for months and forced the F1 to find alternate schedule. F1 is working tirelessly to find a feasible schedule to maximize the races in current scenario.
F1 is working with event organizers for double headers at multiple venues. It is also working to include new alternates like Hockenheim and Algrave circuits this year.
Original schedule was postponed for Shanghai race in February, soon after Covid-19 hit the country.
Mr Xu confirmed, on Shanghai People’s Radio, that they are working to revive the international sports events in the country. He mentioned Chinese GP and ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai tennis tournament.
“International sport organisations care a lot about these world-class sport events in China and Shanghai,” said Sports Bureau Boss.
“Despite a lot of changes of our events due to the pandemic, we have received support from international sport organisations and national associations for some of our events. We would be allowed to hold the events in Shanghai at a suitable time in the second half of the year, depending on the situation of the pandemic.”
Xu – Double Header
Xu commented on Shanghai double-header and said: “No decision has been made yet. It’s proposed by FOM.
“F1 has announced they will resume the opening eight European races, without any rounds in Asia. The event originally scheduled has been postponed to the second half of the year.
“FOM asked whether we could host two races in Shanghai in the discussion. It’s not been decided. It will depend on the situation of pandemic.”
Recently, Singapore, Japanese and Azerbaijan Grand Prix were cancelled by the Formula 1. This pushed them for a double header in China. Additionally, F1 is working on Vietnamese venues for 2020 in East Asia.
Shanghai was introduced in F1 calendar in 2004 and China marked its 1000th F1 race in 2019.
