Formula 1 has announced the planned European rounds of the new 2020 calendar, starting in July.
The sport is currently in the midst of its longest break between races in history, after the first 11 races were either cancelled or postponed due to Covid-19.
Now though it is official the Austrian Grand Prix will finally get F1 back on track on its originally planned dates of July 3-5.
That will be followed by a first for F1, as the Red Bull Ring will be the first circuit host a second championship race in the same season a week later on July 10-12.
This event will run under the name of the Steiermark Grand Prix.
Completing a triple-header to start will be the Hungarian GP in Budapest on July 17-19, this is slightly ahead of its original date but has been brought forward due to the short trip from Spielberg.
Following the first two-week break, Silverstone will host a pair of races on August 2 and 9.
The first under its usual British GP moniker, while the second has been named the 70th Anniversary GP, celebrating the milestone at the venue where the first F1 race took place.
A sixth race in seven weeks will see teams head to Barcelona for a rescheduled Spanish GP on August 16.
Finally, the traditional end of the European season remains intact with the Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps on August 30, followed by the Italian GP at Monza a week later.
All these races are expected to be behind closed doors, though F1 is still hopeful that will change later in the year.
The fluidity of the coronavirus situation means a wider 2020 calendar is still a few weeks from being confirmed however, but a 15-18 race schedule is still the target, ending in Abu Dhabi 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.," F1 CEO Chase Carey commented.
"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 and I want to thank every promoter and partner for their support and ongoing commitment to Formula 1.
"While we currently expect the season to commence without fans at our races we hope that over the coming months the situation will allow us to welcome them back once it is safe to do, but we know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world.”
The revised opening 2020 calendar is as follows:
July 3-5 FORMULA 1 ROLEX GROSSER PREIS VON ÖSTERREICH (Spielberg, Austria)
July 10-12 FORMULA 1 PIRELLI GROSSER PREIS DER STEIERMARK (Spielberg, Austria)
July 17-19 FORMULA 1 ARAMCO MAGYAR NAGYDÍJ (Budapest, Hungary)
July 31 – August 2 FORMULA 1 PIRELLI BRITISH GRAND PRIX (Silverstone, UK)
August 7-9 EMIRATES FORMULA 1 70TH ANNIVERSARY GRAND PRIX (Silverstone, UK)
August 14-16 FORMULA 1 ARAMCO GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA (Barcelona, Spain)
August 28-30 FORMULA 1 ROLEX BELGIAN GRAND PRIX (Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium)
September 4-6 FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO HEINEKEN D’ITALIA (Monza, Italy)
