Controversies have surfaced during these lockdown months. The idea that had been proposed regarding the start of the 2020 Formula 1 season seems to be no longer as certain as it was a few days ago.

In fact, Chase Carey has admitted that many of the owners of the teams that are expected to race this year are thinking of not taking part in any race of the 2020 season, risking to block the championship for the remaining months of the year.

All the bosses have been pushed towards this decision because of the minimum revenues - which decreased by 84% in the first quarter of 2020.

Chase Carey doesn’t give up and tries to give hope to all the teams: “We are increasingly confident - although there are no guarantees - that we will have a 2020 championship season.”

We must face the difficulties that arise when it comes to revenue. Liberty Media announced that revenue for the first quarter of 2020 was $ 39m unlike 2019 in which $ 246m was estimated.

The importance of running at least one race derives from the fact that F1 didn’t record any revenue regarding the two canceled races, namely the Australian and Bahrain Grand Prix.

Carey said in an interview with other sports directors that the coronavirus crisis is putting the whole world in a tight spot, including Formula 1, but the executive chairman doesn’t give up and continues towards the set goal of starting the F1 championship in Austria during the first July weekend which should continue with a second race on the 11 or 12 July.

Carey's idea was to plan a championship of 15-18 races to be run on all continents to make it valid.

Due to threats from this virus it will be difficult to reintegrate fans into the circuits, as Carey said: “We expect the European races to be without fans.”

https://www.motorlat.com/notas/f1/15353/no-fans-attendance-expected-for-the-hungarian-grand-prix

“We are making good headway on having races that can be secure and safe for everyone,” he said.

“We hope to be able to allow fans to attend in the latter part of the year.”

Another problem is the transfer of the teams. Mass travel is prohibited in most parts of the world, making it difficult for an entire F1 team to travel. F1 managers are trying in every way to find a solution to this.

Going back to the numbers, the Liberty Media Group helped F1 cope with the virus by giving it additional liquidity of $1.4bn

“We expect the impact of the coronavirus on the wider world will continue, but we feel well positioned to return to the growth curve we were on a few months ago” Carey said.

Several measures have been applied over the past two weeks to help reduce teams costs. One of these is surely the delay of the regulatory change regarding 2021 until 2022, thus forcing the teams to use the 2020 cars for the next F1 championship. Moreover they are also looking to lower the budget cap that should be introduced starting next Formula 1 season.