Paris (AFP)

The organizers of the F1 world championship, faced with the coronavirus pandemic, will skip the American continent this year while increasing the number of races in Europe.

The US, Brazil, Mexico and Canadian Grands Prix will not take place this year, but three new races, in Germany, Portugal and Italy, were scheduled for October, they announced. Friday.

Their goal is still to organize 15 to 18 events this season despite the upheavals caused by the pandemic. Three Grands Prix have already taken place in July, two in Austria and then one in Hungary.

The three new Grands Prix on the calendar are those of Germany on the Nürburgring circuit, from October 9 to 11, Portugal on that of Portimao, from October 23 to 25, and Emilia-Romagna on that of Imola, over two days only, October 31 and November 1.

This brings the number of confirmed races this season so far to 13, all on the old continent.

In addition to the three races that took place in Austria and Hungary, two more are planned on the Silverstone circuit (Great Britain), one in Barcelona (Spain), one in Spa (Belgium), two in Italy (Monza and Mugello) ) and one in Russia (Sochi) to which are added the three announced on Friday.

"We are happy to see Portimão arrive as a new circuit in the F1 calendar and to see Imola and the Nürburgring return, which have hosted Grands Prix in the past," the statement said.

"After long discussions and in close collaboration with our partners, we can also confirm that due to the very fluid nature of the situation on the Covid-19 pandemic front, the restrictions made at the local level and the importance to preserve the health of communities and our colleagues, it will not be possible to run in Brazil, the United States, Mexico and Canada this season, "the same source continued.

- Difficult decision -

This decision must have been particularly difficult for the promoter of F1, the American group Liberty Media, whose avowed objective is to increase the visibility and popularity of the discipline on the North American continent.

But the virulence of the epidemic, especially in the United States, makes it impossible to travel to the continent this year.

"We are looking forward to coming back next season," they said on Friday, however, to show that this is just a goodbye.

The Portuguese circuit of Portimao takes the opportunity to make its arrival among the tracks of F1. The last Portuguese GP was held in 1996 at the Estoril circuit and the new Portimao circuit was keen to show that it is suitable for hosting a Grand Prix. It was recently homologated for F1.

For the Nürburgring and Imola, this is a comeback. The German circuit, which is no longer the mythical "green hell" famous until the 1970s under the name of Nordschleife, has hosted F1 on several occasions, the last time in 2013. The Italian loop did not see it F1 since 2006 and remains infamous for being the scene of Ayrton Senna's fatal crash in 1994.

Despite this refocusing on Europe, its historical cradle, F1 has not yet given up going this year to Asia with a possibility still open, even low, for races in China and Vietnam.

The season is normally expected to end in the Middle East in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, although those last two rounds have yet to be confirmed.

The season should have started in mid-March in Melbourne, Australia, but the GP was canceled just before the first free practice session following the discovery of a case of coronavirus in the paddock.

© 2020 AFP