My guess is that the COVID-19 shutdown will alter motorsports for years to come, not just Formula 1.
Bernie Ecclestone's comments about sponsors not being enthusiastic about hosting races was a big clue.
Presumably some sponsors (if not all of them) will be less willing to fork out the cash to their teams.
My guess is that the entire F1 league needs to cut costs by 20-25%. Most likely, some of the team owners are in private conversations with F1 officials to alter rule changes to favor simpler cars that are cheaper to design, built, race, and maintain. If they don't then some of the less financially stable teams may quit or be forced to merge and F1 might have 7-8 teams instead of ten. The individual teams will probably need to downsize their staffs. Marketing budgets will be cut.
If there were 20-21 races scheduled, most likely some venues will drop out because of lack of a suitable sponsor. My guess is that the future race schedule will be pared back to 15-18 races.
And this isn't just F1. My belief is that the same fiscal impacts of COVID-19 will hit NASCAR Sprint Cup as well including loss of teams and races. IndyCar is an even greater risk.
Anyone who thinks these motorsports racing leagues can pick up where they left off like nothing happened apart from a few cancelled races is naïve.
Bernie Ecclestone's comments about sponsors not being enthusiastic about hosting races was a big clue.
Presumably some sponsors (if not all of them) will be less willing to fork out the cash to their teams.
My guess is that the entire F1 league needs to cut costs by 20-25%. Most likely, some of the team owners are in private conversations with F1 officials to alter rule changes to favor simpler cars that are cheaper to design, built, race, and maintain. If they don't then some of the less financially stable teams may quit or be forced to merge and F1 might have 7-8 teams instead of ten. The individual teams will probably need to downsize their staffs. Marketing budgets will be cut.
If there were 20-21 races scheduled, most likely some venues will drop out because of lack of a suitable sponsor. My guess is that the future race schedule will be pared back to 15-18 races.
And this isn't just F1. My belief is that the same fiscal impacts of COVID-19 will hit NASCAR Sprint Cup as well including loss of teams and races. IndyCar is an even greater risk.
Anyone who thinks these motorsports racing leagues can pick up where they left off like nothing happened apart from a few cancelled races is naïve.
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