Formula One News Roundup: Week Four

Happy Easter and welcome to our latest news roundup from the world of Formula One, featuring another race postponement and plenty of juicy gossip. 

There is also news of more staff being furloughed whilst Europe now looks the favoured destination to start the season, and discover which ex McLaren boss is aiming to donate one million meals to NHS workers during the current Coronavirus pandemic. 

 

Canadian Grand Prix Postponed

Canadian Grand Prix organisers have this week announced that the 2020 Canadian GP has been postponed due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.

The organisers released a statement in which they revealed that they “would have been honoured to host the first race…” of this season and were “saddened” to postpone the race. 

This decision came after discussions with F1, representatives from Montreal plus both provincial and federal governments.

French Grand Prix is therefore set to be the opening race of the 2020 season across weekend of 26-28 June, although doubt surround that race and the Austrian Grand Prix the following weekend going ahead as scheduled. 

 

F1 Plus Three Teams Put Staff on Furlough

F1 alongside three constructors this week announced plans to furlough staff in order to reduce costs by signing up for the Job Retention Scheme set up by the UK Government, who will pay up to 80% of wages. 

Formula One Group and Williams have placed most of their staff on furlough until end of May, whilst senior management and drivers of the latter have taken a 20% pay cut apart from F1 CEO – Chase Carey who has taken a larger reduction to his salary. 

Racing Point have also put some staff on furlough whilst drivers – Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll will both take voluntary pay cuts in these circumstances. 

Renault meanwhile have put those working at their Viry-Chantillon base in France on a limited schedule, whilst those working at Enstone in the UK have been furloughed and placed on total shutdown until 31 May with a full top up on what the Government pays.

Speaking about Renault’s decision, Team Principal – Cyril Abiteboul has revealed that the team are using “… all the measures at our disposal to get through this prolonged period of uncertainty and inactivity as best as we can, while protecting the whole team we have built over the last four years.”

 

Todt Claims He “love” to reveal Ferrari Sanction 

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FIA President – Jean Todt has publicly claimed that he would “love” to release details surrounding the Ferrari power unit controversy and the consequent sanction, but is unable to do so after Ferrari opposed to revealing details of their sanction. 

In an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com, the ex Scuderia boss argued that by revealing that Ferrari had been sanctioned without releasing further details, it is better than saying “… that the Ferrari case had been discussed and that there had been sanction.”

Todt’s claims comes after all non Ferrari power unit customers sent a joint letter to the FIA last month, expressing their shock and threatening “legal redress” if necessary.    

 

News Snippets

• F1 teams have agreed to extend the shutdown period from three weeks to five amidst continued uncertainty with most of Europe still under lockdown, which has been formally ratified by the World Motorsport Council.
• Races could be held behind closed doors according to F1 Managing Director – Ross Brawn who told Sky Sports that an “European start would be favourable and that could even be a closed event.”
• Ex McLaren Team Principal – Ron Dennis is aiming to donate one million meals to British NHS staff within three months, after setting up an initiative called Salute The NHS which can be viewed at salutethenhs.org
• Six F1 drivers including Charles Leclerc and Alex Albon have signed up for a new initiative called Race For The World, as they join several top drivers across motorsport in aid of the fight against Coronavirus. 
• Ferrari boss – Mattia Binotto believes that teams shouldn’t be “emotional” when making a crucial decision about F1’s future as debate over cost capping continues to rage with “analysis” still required to reach the correct decision. 
• FIA have given the Algarve Circuit, Portugal a FIA Grade One license meaning that the circuit could host testing or a Portuguese Grand Prix in future.