Brendan Lines     March 20, 2020

Formula 1 has today announced the Dutch and Spanish Grands Prix have been postponed, while the Monaco Grand Prix has been cancelled as the epicentre COVID-19 pandemic grips mainland Europe. The news follows the previous decision postpone the Chinese, Bahrain and Vietnam Grand Prix.

Image: F1.com

The  postponement and cancellation of the season’e first European races will delay the start of the season for now, until the Azerbaijan Grand Prix set for June 5-7.

A statement from Formula 1 reads:

“Formula 1, the FIA and the three promoters have taken these decisions in order to ensure the health and safety of the travelling staff, championship participants and fans, which remains our primary concern,” it said.

The promoters of the affected races will now monitor the COVID-19 situation to find viable alternative dates to the for each Grand Prix later in the year.

The Automobile Club de Monaco, the organisers of the Monaco Grand Prix, on Monday were still operating under the principality’s special exceptions for work to continue in building the 3.3km street circuit.

However overnight the Automobile Club de Monaco said the event was ‘no longer tenable.” The Monaco Grand Prix has been a continuous part of the Formula 1 calendar since 1950 and this event event would have been the 78th running of the Monaco race, first held in 1929. 

A statement from the Automobile Club de Monaco read:

“The current situation concerning the worldwide pandemic and its unknown path of evolution, the lack of understanding as to the impact on the FIA F1 World Championship 2020, the uncertainty with regards to the participation of the teams, the consequences with regards to the differing measures of confinement as taken by various governments worldwide, the multi-border restrictions for accessing the Principality of Monaco, the pressure on all implicated businesses, their dedicated staff who are unable to undertake the necessary installations, the availability of the indispensable workforce and volunteers (more than 1500) required for the success of the event means that the situation is no longer tenable.

“As a result, and after careful consideration as to the gravity of this crisis worldwide, it is with great sadness that the AUTOMOBILE CLUB DE MONACO Board of Directors has taken the decision to cancel the 12th GRAND PRIX DE MONACO HISTORIQUE (8-10 May 2020) and the 78th GRAND PRIX DE MONACO FORMULA 1, FIA World Championship (21-24 May 2020).

“To all the fans, spectators, partners and our members, the Board of Directors wishes to express its sincere regrets that these two events cannot be postponed and under no circumstances, will it be possible to organise these events later this year.”

The FIA has also made a decision to delay the sport’s new regulations until 2022.