European F1 dates announced! How to watch F1 2020

So. Finally an announcement! Formula 1 has announced the revised 2020 calendar – well half of it at least. The 8 European dates have now been confirmed, including (as expected) double headers in Austria and the UK. They’ll all be behind closed doors, so how can you watch them? Read on…

Updated 2nd June 2020

So what’s been announced?

So far, F1 has just announced the European races, these are shown in the table below. It’s worth noting that these are all behind closed doors, so just the racing teams and support (marshals, emergency services, FIA personnel etc.) will be permitted.
As many expected (and had been leaked, a lot!) there are double headers for both Austria and the UK as part of the early races. This makes good sense – Austria is a private track so the teams can be contained easily, and the UK is home to many of the F1 teams so international travel will be limited.
Those confirmed races are;

How many races will there actually be in 2020?

Well, that’s an interesting question. F1’s boss, Chase Carey, has said publicly that they want to run 15-18 races, which suggests at least another 7 races to come. Handily enough there are still 7 races on the original F1 calendar outside of Europe, though it’s unlikely they’ll all go ahead as planned in their original slots.

What’ll be really interesting is how F1 balances the financial demands of it’s business with the need to run a sensible calendar. Races like Singapore, Russia and Abu Dhabi pay handsomely for their races so it’s hard to see them being dropped altogether.

Will there be more than 1 F1 race per weekend?

One idea that’s been doing the rounds to try to make up for the number of races is to run ‘double-headers’ at some of the race weekends. This has been an idea anyway for the last couple of years, to try to make more fans attend the race weekend and improve the amount of action for the TV cameras.

This seems feasible, but it relies a lot on the support of the teams and the tyre manufacturer, Pirelli. More races means more parts, more repairs, more engine changes and of course more tyres. It might have been possible at a few of the European races like Spa and Monza, but not the remaining fly-aways. The fact they’ve not done it for the European races speaks volumes.

The only exception to that might be Abu Dhabi – the season finale. The teams tend to have a testing week following the final race, and the pit complexes, climate and open nature of the circuit might also support a second race – even if it’s later in the week, say Wednesday night (European time). That would make for a blockbuster end to the season under the lights!

What about watching it on TV? What are my options?

These days, you’ve got plenty of ways to watch, without a satellite dish if you don’t want one. We’ve got a great article here with information and advice for watching the F1 season in the UK.

How can I find a great deal?

It’s what SwitchTV.co.uk was designed for. Just you enter ‘Formula 1’ in our channel and programme finder here, we’ll find you the best deals available in your area;

What do you think? Let us know your thoughts below…