This archive report was first published on 29 June 2020.
Hamilton Eyes Schumacher Record as F1 Steps into Brave New World ¶
Formula One is set to return to the track on Sunday, July 5, after a seven-month hiatus due to the global coronavirus pandemic. The season-opening event will take place at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, behind closed doors, without fans, sponsors' agents, and guests.
The event will be a unique experience for all involved, with teams operating in sanitized 'bubbles within bubbles' and drivers tested four days before the event and five days later.
Despite the changes, the action on the track is expected to deliver the same likely story, with Lewis Hamilton, powered by the all-conquering Mercedes, seeking a seventh drivers' title to equal the record of Michael Schumacher.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff expressed his excitement about the return of racing, saying, 'It has been unbearable – I have missed the racing and the competition so much, so it will be great to be back.'
Even during lockdown, drivers made moves for next year, with Ferrari announcing the release of four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, who will be succeeded by Carlos Sainz of McLaren. Daniel Ricciardo will leave Renault and be the Spaniard's replacement at the cash-starved outfit.
Those 2021 moves will not affect this year's line-ups, but may affect relationships between departing drivers and teams anxious not to allow unique operational and performance intelligence to leave with them.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc are expected to challenge Mercedes, with Ferrari and Racing Point in close pursuit in the opening events.
Hamilton has been vocal about his support for the current anti-racism protests, slamming remarks made by former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone as 'ignorant and uneducated.'
He also called for the restoration of Grand Prix in Africa, saying, 'It's a really weird time in the world and the biggest challenge in my mind is not about the championship necessarily. It's not a normal year.'
