The FIA has confirmed the European portion of the Formula One season will start this July 5th, with a double header event around the Austrian Red Bull Ring set to finally kick off the 2020 racing season.

Austria has long been expected to open the much delayed new season, the the FIA have now confirmed the Red Bull owned facility will host back to back races on July 5th and 12th, although the proposed reverse layout option for round two has allegedly been rejected by the sports governing body.

In a bid to make up for lost time thanks to Covid-19 enforced delays, Formula One plan to hold an incredible eight races over a nine week period, with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone set to join Austria as a double header event, hosting the fourth and fifth rounds of the season following a one week break after round 3 at the Hungaroring.

Chase Carey, Chairman and CEO of Formula 1, said: “In the past weeks we have been working tirelessly with all our partners, the FIA and the teams to create a revised opening 2020 calendar allowing us to restart racing in the safest possible way.​

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"We are pleased to be able to set out our opening eight race calendar today and look forward to publishing our full calendar in the coming weeks.​
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"I want to thank every promoter and partner for their support and ongoing commitment to Formula 1.​
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"While we currently expect the season to commence without fans at our races we hope that over the coming months the situation will allow us to welcome them back once it is safe to do, but we know the return of Formula 1 will be a welcome boost to sports fans around the world.”​

The current Formula One calendar

Formula 1 Rolex Grosser Preis von Osterreich The Red Bull Ring, Austria July 3-5
Formula 1 Pirelli Grosser Preis der Steiermark The Red Bull Ring, Austria July 10-12
Formula 1 Aramco Magyar Nagydij The Hungaroring, Hungary July 17-19
Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix Silverstone, UK July 31 - August 2
Emirates Formula 1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix Silverstone, UK August 7-9
Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio de Espana Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain August 14-16
Formula 1 Rolex Belgian Grand Prix Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium August 28-30
Formula 1 Gran Premio Heineken d'Italia Monza, Italy September 4-6


Formula One remain hopeful of further races outside of Europe later in the year, however these are still under negotiation between governments, circuit management and the FIA, and it is thought that several European venues that aren't currently on the Grand Prix schedule remain on standby should current plans fail to materialise.

In other news, both the F2 and F3 support series have confirmed they will be present for all eight European rounds of the season, finally getting both categories off the ground alongside the main championship.