On Frinday, Formula 1 bosses have officially confirmed the 11th, 12th and 13th races of the 2020 championship, filling the calendar into November. The Nürburgring’s GP loop will host the Eiffel Grand Prix on 11th October, Portimao will host its first ever F1 race as the Portuguese Grand Prix returns for the firs time since 1996, and the iconic Imola circuit will return for the first time since 2006 as it hosts the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, the third Grand Prix of 2020 to take place in Italy.
Imola’s round will also see a new format for a Grand Prix weekend, with the whole even compressed into just two days. AS the Portuguese and Emilia Romagna Grands Prix will run back-to-back and are 1,500 miles apart, Formula 1 has decided to compress the schedule at Imola to give the teams and extra day to make the journey. Details of how this new format will work are yet to be announced, but it is expected that there will be only one free practice session before qualifying.
In the statement announcing the three new races, Formula 1 also added that it expects to hold an extra five races, bringing the total to 18 in 2020, finishing in the Gulf. It also confirmed that there would be no race in Canada, the USA, Mexico or Brazil this year.
According to Freelance F1 feature writer Ian Parkes, Formula 1 plans five more races after Imola, as the season may finish as late as December 20: “From what I understand, after Imola race on Nov 1, F1 would like to stage a Far East double-header in Vietnam and Malaysia on Nov 15 and 22 before concluding with its Middle East triple-header of Bahrain x2 on Dec 6 and 13 and Abu Dhabi on Dec 20” – he posted on Twitter.
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