Mugello to host Ferrari's 1,000th race

LONDON • The Ferrari-owned Mugello circuit will debut on the Formula One calendar in September to host the Italian team's 1,000th championship grand prix, with the Sochi race also confirmed yesterday.

The Sept 13 race, to be called the Grand Prix of Tuscany Ferrari 1,000, will follow on from the Sept 6 Italian Grand Prix at Monza as the ninth round of a season that has been heavily revised due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Russia will be the 10th race on Sept 27.

F1 said in a statement it still expected to stage 15 to 18 races this campaign, with more announcements in coming weeks. "We are increasingly confident in our plans to race throughout the remainder of 2020," said F1 chairman Chase Carey.

F1 is also lining up Portugal's Algarve circuit in Portimao, with Vietnam still a possibility. While China has said it will not hold any international sporting events this year, aside from trials for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, F1 could yet secure an exemption.

Races in the Americas - Texas, Mexico and Brazil - look doubtful due to the spread of the coronavirus but Bahrain, with a possible two races, and Abu Dhabi are set to complete the season in November.

F1 has put in place safety measures, with motor racing governing body FIA's Covid-19 code stating that any time spent outside the closed venue "must be spent with other members of the same group, keeping interaction with persons outside that group to a minimum". But Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas, who won the Austrian Grand Prix, and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who came in second, returned home to Monaco following the season-opening race last weekend, prompting a probe by the FIA.

As F1 is holding back-to-back races at the Red Bull Ring, the pair should have stayed in Austria. Leclerc yesterday escaped with a warning after flying home for three days this week. He insisted he had not taken a risk by leaving the secure environment as he had taken precautions. "I did go back at home," he said. "On the other hand, I've been tested twice before coming back."

Bottas said he had permission to leave with his girlfriend, Australian cyclist Tiffany Cromwell, who had also been at the first race. "Obviously I found out if it's allowed to go back, and yes it is," said the recharged Finn. "From a safety point of view, there's no difference at all. Still with the same people I will be dealing with here."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS