Ex-Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has criticised plans to restart the 2020 season, warning it might be difficult to bring-about a satisfactory conclusion.
Already on-the-record as suggesting the season should be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ecclestone fears the current optimism surrounding the season launch in Austria will quickly give way to some harsh realities.
“It’s not up to Formula 1 to say what’s going to happen,” he explained to The Evening Standard. “The Government can easily say, ‘Terribly sorry, it can’t happen’ and there might be a second wave of this virus and then everything that’s planned has to suddenly stop.
“This season is not good for anyone and the biggest problem they’ve got is not knowing when this is going to finish. If someone could say that this is going to end in September or October, you can make plans. But how can you make plans? All you have is hope.”
As things stand, F1 has eight races tentatively on the books: two in Austria, Hungary, two in Silverstone, Spain, Belgium and Italy, and hopes to have at least two between Asia and the Americas before concluding the season in Abu Dhabi.
Yet whatever form the season ends up taking, Ecclestone believes it will be hard to value in an historical context.
“It’s a funny championship, isn’t it? You have the Austrian Grand Prix and the next week the same thing but called something else.
“So, you’ll look at the championship, someone wins and you’re not quite sure what they’ve won. And people will forever say that it was a lucky win because it wasn’t really a championship.”