Azerbaijan Grand Prix postponed because of coronavirus outbreak

Azerbaijan Grand Prix postponed because of coronavirus outbreak

(Web Desk) - The Azerbaijan Grand Prix, due to take place on 7 June, has been postponed as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

The street race in Baku is the eighth race to be called off at the start of the 2020 World Championship season.

Race organisers said they would work closely with F1 "with a view to announcing a new race date later in 2020".

The Canadian Grand Prix, on 14 June, is the first race on the schedule that has not been postponed.

However, the Montreal event must be considered in doubt after Canada became the first country to pull out of this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Seven Grands Prix - Australia, Bahrain, Vietnam, China, the Netherlands, Spain and Azerbaijan - have been postponed, while Monaco has been cancelled altogether.

F1 has accepted all existing dates may have to change as they seek to re-establish a schedule later in the year.

Senior figures say when the season restarts, it will almost certainly not be a case of looking at the calendar and thinking about how to fit the postponed races in around the events that remain.

Instead, existing races may have to move to make way for other races and then be added in at later dates.

That is because factors surrounding some races make them easier to reschedule than others, once it is considered safe for international travel to restart when the coronavirus epidemic is brought under control.