8-race 2020 Formula One season confirmed with no spectators

Remember when Formula One announced that this year's season will start this July with the 2020 Austrian GP? Well, it looks like Formula One management and the FIA have officially updated the initial schedule of races for the 2020 season.

The opening races will consist of 8 events that will take place in Europe. As mentioned earlier, the season-opening will take place in Austria at the Red Bull Ring from July 3 to July 5. It will then be followed by another race on the same track in Austria.

The Hungarian GP weekend will take place after the two Austrian races from July 17 to July 19, which will then be followed by a week-long break. Then from July 31 to August 2, and August 7 to August 9, there will be two back-to-back races at the Silverstone race track for the British GP. After Great Britain, the F1 circus heads to Catalunya for the Spanish Grand Prix weekend from August 14 to August 16.

Serving as the seventh and eighth rounds of the 2020 season will be the Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps from August 28 to August 30, and the Italian Grand Prix from September 4 to September 6 at Monza, respectively. The other races for this year's calendar will be announced in the coming weeks.

Despite Formula One officially pushing through this year, the organizers said that the races will not be open to spectators as each one will be closed events. In the future Formula One is hopeful that fans will be able to attend if the COVID-19 situation improves. In addition, Formula One is hopeful that they will be able to have a total of 15 to 18 races before completing the season later this December.

“In the past weeks, we have been working tirelessly with all our partners, the FIA, and the teams to create a revised opening 2020 calendar allowing us to restart racing in the safest possible way. We are pleased to be able to set out our opening eight-race calendar today and look forward to publishing our full calendar in the coming weeks. I want to thank every promoter and partner for their support and ongoing commitment to Formula 1,” said Chase Carey, Chairman, and CEO of Formula 1.

While diehard fans of the motorsport will not be allowed to see the action up close just yet, at least they will soon be able to look forward to weekends once again with some good ol' Formula One action beginning in July.