OFFICIAL: F1 will go to Nürburgring, Imola and Portimao this year!
- GPblog.com
After weeks full of speculation, the bullet went through the church: this year the king's class of racing will race at the Nürburgring, Imola and in Portimao. With two circuits returning to the calendar after some absence, we are starting to get a full season in 2020.
Not Hockenheim, but the Nürburgring
The news means there's gonna be racing in Germany this year. Thursday it was announced that the Grand Prix of Hockenheim will not be raced this year. The F1 circuit of Nürburg, where Formula 1 racing was organised for the last time in 2013, will take its place. Michael Schumacher is the last driver to take a victory on the circuit, which lies next to the legendary Nordschliefe. In addition to the race in Germany, the Grands Prix of Portimao and Imola will also be added to the calendar, which now counts thirteen races.
Portugal on the calendar
There has never been a Formula 1 Grand Prix on the circuit of Portimao. However, the circuit is a popular test location for F1 teams. The circuit has been able to organize the Formula 1 test days for a while. The layout of the circuit of Barcelona, which has been the location for the Formula 1 test days in recent years.
Return to Imola
Imola also returns once on the calendar for 2020. Until 2006 the circuit was a fixed value on the calendar, under the name: Grand Prix of San Marino. There have been some great duels on the circuit over the years, but also some hard blows. Nelson Piquet had a heavy crash and Gerhard Berger was also hit hard on this circuit. A black year in the history books of Imola is 1994, when Roland Ratzenberger and Aryton Senna died in one weekend. Since then a lot has been done to the safety of the circuit and this autumn there will be F1 cars to admire again.
Remarkable is that the GP weekend in Imola will last two days. On the 30th of October and the 1st of November there will be racing on the Italian circuit. The agenda now counts thirteen European races. The first three appointments of the season were held in Austria (two) and Hungary. The next two weekends a diptych is planned in England, at Silverstone. After that the whole F1 field will go to Barcelona for the sixth Grand Prix of the season.
Provisional calendar
1. Grand Prix of Austria - July 5th
2. Grand Prix of Styria - July 12th
3. Grand Prix of Hungary - July 19th
4. Grand Prix of Great Britain - August 2nd
5. F1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix - August 9th
6. Grand Prix of Spain - August 16th
7. Grand Prix of Belgium - August 30th
8. Grand Prix of Italy - September 6th
9. Grand Prix of Tuscany - September 13th
10. Grand Prix of Russia - September 27th
11. Grand Prix of Germany - October 11th
12. Grand Prix of Portugal - October 25th
13. Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna - November 1st