Formula 1 is honing in on a potential November date as its preferable option for rescheduling the postponed Chinese Grand Prix.
The event, planned as the fourth round of the campaign in mid-April, has been postponed due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus, with heavy travel restrictions placed on China and its citizens.
It means that there will be a four-week gap between the inaugural Vietnam Grand Prix and the returning Dutch Grand Prix.
The congested nature of the calendar means finding an alternative date for China has proved challenging.
In order to shoehorn it into the late-season flyaway events it would mean either a sequence of four or five events in successive weekends.
Instead the most likely proposal is understood to be to hold a truncated Chinese Grand Prix on the weekend in-between events in Brazil and Abu Dhabi, on November 22.
This would still require the unanimous approval of all 10 Formula 1 teams and relevant shareholders, so remains an unlikely outcome.
There would also be severe logistical challenges in transporting all of the required equipment between the respective countries in the time frame.
Formula 1 has only once held a Triple Header, which occurred in 2018, when events in France, Austria and Great Britain were held in successive weekends.