Spectators may not be able to return to grands prix until the 2021 season, according to Renault DP World F1 Team boss Cyril Abiteboul, due to the coronavirus and associated economic risk.
The pandemic has prompted a redrafting of Formula 1’s calendar and regulations, with the FIA approving ‘Closed Events’, at which there is a vast reduction on attending personnel.
Part of the stipulation of Closed Events is that no spectators are permitted access to the venue.
All eight rounds confirmed so far are set to be Closed Events though Formula 1 chiefs have previously expressed optimism that fans will be able to return later in the year.
But, speaking during DP World’s Enabling Smarter Conversations series, Abiteboul has cautioned that race organisers may be reluctant to fast-track the return of spectators.
“It may take a while,” said Abiteboul on the notion of well-attended grands prix.
“We are bracing ourselves for a season that will be mostly behind closed doors with a different set of economics obviously given the circumstances, but hopefully we will be able to have a very small fan attendance in the course of the summer.
“I don’t have any of my own predictions but looking at the way the pandemic has been developing and fluctuating, and being more in control in Europe, for me it looks like we may have to wait for a complete cycle, a complete winter, before we find some promotors who are prepared to take the economic risk to set up a race with grandstands with full attendance.
“That’s why the main concern has been to protect the sport, Formula 1, for next year, when we think it will be all back to normal.”
The Austrian Grand Prix will be the first race in Formula 1’s 70-year history to take place without spectators.
