Hungary in contention to replace British GP

With the British Grand Prix looking unlikely to go ahead, reports suggest that the Hungaroring is being considered as a replacement.

It was hoped that the 2020 season would start with a double-header in Austria followed by another at Silverstone, but it is now expected that the latter will be replaced.

This is due to the fact that the UK government are set to introduce restrictions that ensure everybody entering the country from abroad will have to quarantine for 14 days. F1 was hoping to be made exempt from this, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

The Hockenheim race in Germany is widely expected to fill the gap left by the British GP, but Motorsport.com are reporting that the track in Hungary is also in contention.

The Hungarian Grand Prix was set to follow the British Grand Prix in August on the original race calendar, but its close proximity to Austria is apparently making it an attractive option to follow Austria at the start of the campaign in July.

“It’s all still very much up in the air. The one thing that is very clear is all that teams want to start racing and will do whatever is necessary, including a quadruple-header and even being on the road for a couple of months, if that’s what it takes. As long as it’s safe to do so,” a team insider told Motorsport.

The Red Bull Ring and Hungaroring are just a four-hour drive apart, so the staff from each team would be able to avoid returning to the UK, where most are based, and having to self-quarantine between the two races. After the latter, the season would then take a short break in which they could return home and do so, before going to Germany.

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