FORMULA 1 RACES REVVING UP

The Formula 1 season will kick off in Austria next month with all eight European races to take place behind closed doors, according to Euronews.

Racing was put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic with contests in France, Monaco, Australia and the Netherlands scrapped.

But the season will resume on July 3 with two consecutive weekends of competition in Austria, with the Hungarian Grand Prix to be held a week later.

Two races at Silverstone, in Britain, will follow a two-week break while the Spanish Grand Prix, which was initially scheduled to take place in May, will instead be held in mid-August.

The Belgian and Italian events will complete the European calendar.

F1 2020 European calendar

·         July 3-5: Austrian Grand Prix

·         July 10-12: Steiermark Grand Prix

·         July 17-19: Hungarian Grand Prix

·         July 31-August 2: British Grand Prix

·         August 7-9: 70th Anniversary Grand Prix

·         August 14-16: Spanish Grand Prix

·         August 28-30: Belgian Grand Prix

·         September 4-6: Italian Grand Prix

15 to 18 races

"F1 currently expect the opening races to be closed events but hope fans will be able to attend again when it's safe to do so," the organisation said in a statement.

It added that it "will be finalising the details of the wider calendar and hope to publish that in the coming weeks with an expectation of having a total of 15-18 races before completing the season in December."