Formula One are set to welcome the confirmation of two new venues with Imola and Algarve now poised to join the 2020 calendar.
Consequently, races in China and the Americas are now set to be scrubbed as F1 look to piece together a 15-race calendar likely ending with a doubleheader at Bahrain before a round in Abu Dhabi completes the season in December.
Large parts of Europe have been emerging from lockdown conditions as the pandemic slowly abates, making it logistically easier to execute races within the continent.
Ten races in Europe have been confirmed so far up to September’s Russian Grand Prix.
Now, another triple-header is expected to lead on from the race in Sochi with ex-San Marino Grand Prix venue Imola and Algarve set to join the calendar.
The Algarve International Circuit in Portugal is pencilled in to take place on October 25. F1 teams have tested at the venue in the past but it has never hosted a Grand Prix.
Meanwhile, a race from the Hockenheim circuit in Germany has been pushed back as a back-up option as the circuit was unwilling to proceed with a race if F1 could not guarantee enough fans will be allowed to enter the venue.
It means the Nürburgring, which last hosted a Grand Prix back in 2013, has been touted as a possible third new addition to the calendar.
China is now set to be added to the growing list of cancellations, placing pressure on the inaugural Vietnam Grand Prix to go ahead to achieve a truncated Asian leg towards the end of the calendar.
Races in the United States, Mexico and Brazil are increasingly unlikely to go ahead while a trio of new races in Europe almost certainly rules out any chance of a race in Canada.
The latest revision of the calendar is expected to be announce over the coming days in the build up to the next Formula 1 round which is slated as the British Grand Prix on July 31 – August 2.
