Having put Silverstone’s name into the hat for multiple races, managing director Stuart Pringle says one of those could be a midweek evening grand prix.
Six weeks after the Australian GP was set to take place, the 2020 Formula 1 championship has yet to begin with the opening nine races either cancelled or postponed. The circus has targeted a July start with the possibility for two races at Austria’s Red Bull Ring, one of which could be a Wednesday evening race. Silverstone, which has previously said it is open to hosting as many as three races, says it too would be keen on a midweek event.
Asked about double-headers or midweek races, Pringle told The-Race that is “absolutely just as viable from a Silverstone perspective.
“If it’s within the same weekend, then it’s very much a Formula 1 call because they control the timetabling and that gets signed off by the FIA. But we could make the place available on consecutive weekends, or for a midweek or frankly more if it was asked. Whatever it takes to be supportive of their needs we will flex accordingly.” – he explained
Silverstone, however, doesn’t have lights surrounding the track. That, Pringle says, won’t be a problem as long as the evening grand prix is held during the British summer.
“Think it’d be fine,” he said. “Honestly, the previous rules just don’t apply. We don’t have lights, but if we were talking about July or August or something they’re long days aren’t they? But I don’t know why you wouldn’t run in the day.”
As for talk of running the track in reverse, Pringle says that is out as it would require alterations to be made to the track and its surrounding safety barriers.
“Probably the most far-fetched example of breaking the old rule book, status quo, is running in reverse, because we know there are sections of the track that would require quite a bit of work and that’s probably not practical or sensible.” he said.
“But in terms of when you ran, or the format you ran to, all that is flexible. We’re just saying, we’ll work with Formula 1 to come up with a solution that gets the championship under way. We’ll do as much or as little as we’re asked under any reasonable format to try and assist because we’re a long-term stakeholder in Formula 1 and we want it to come back fit and healthy and as quickly as possible.” – he concluded.
At the same time, Imola is open to hosting a 2020 Formula 1 grand prix behind closed doors if the Italian government give the go-ahead, says Imola president Uberto Selvatico Estense. Italy is one of the worst-hit countries of COVID-19 in the world, however Selvatico Estense says that should the government deem it safe to do so, it would offer its circuit for free to host a championship round.
“This situation is an opportunity for us to be a candidate for a grand prix this season,” he told Autosport. “They need some races in order to maintain the contract with the FIA and have a World Championship. So why not think about Imola? Obviously it depends also on the government rules, if they will allow us to run such a race. Of course we’ll offer the track for free, and then talk about costs on our side if possible. We can ask the region for some help. We’re not in the situation wherewe can pay a promoter’s fee. It’s much easier without spectators, we don’t have to take care of the grandstands, we don’t have to take care of things like VIP hospitality and so on. For sure it will be cheaper than a complete organisation. People are already thinking about running football games behind closed doors.” – he added.
Imola was featured consistently on the F1 calendar from 1981 to 2006 as the host of the San Marino Grand Prix.
The Italian Grand Prix at Monza is currently scheduled for September 6th, however it is expected that should there be a world championship in 2020, a revised calendar will be used.
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