Nothing until Dutch GP on 1-3 May.

As long as they can put controls in place for the team, fia and venue staff, then holding a race behind closed doors could be feasible but there are other factors that have to be considered such as the requirement to have medical staff and ambulances present which might be difficult to arrange if those services are still required to fight the pandemic. I don't see a race happening until at least August and if they do want to have enough races to ensure it is considered a championship season (think it needs a minimum of 8 races) I suspect the season will have to be extended.

I think it’s unlikely there will be any racing in 2020. There might well be other motor racing in 2020, but it won’t be Formula 1. The principal problem is the risk for the promotors. They will look at Australia and say no thanks. Because of the fee paid to FOM, most promotors rely on decent ticket sales to make a return. You have the likes of Monaco and Abu Dhabi, who don’t have that issue. Chase and Liberty could step in and become the promoter, but would they want to take on that financial burden?

F1 is a circus that travels internationally, and that looks untenable for the short-term. If F1 was to resume, what if a few drivers or team personnel would got the virus? There would be a lot of criticism. The argument would be: just so some cars can go round in circles, the sport is putting people’s health at risk.

The extraordinary cost of operating in F1 has never been more relevant. The current powertrain has been wrong from day one. It sounds dreadful, the costs were never contained, it only ever suited mass car makers, and independent engine builders were never going to be interested. Jean Todt’s obsession with road relevance has come at a cost, and now he says that the crisis is an opportunity to curb costs and have a budget cap. Jean’s problem is that he spent too long working for car manufacturers. First Peugeot, then of course Ferrari. Any solution of Jean’s, is to mirror whatever is happening in the automotive industry, which is progressively heading towards full autonomous cars and EV’s.

I think it’s time for new direction. The sport should return to naturally aspirated engines, the engines that excite people. If Mercedes or Honda want to leave, that’s fine. F1 didn’t become what it was because a minimum number of car manufacturers participated. Ferrari would threaten to leave, but people love Ferrari’s NA engines! I don’t see people telling Ferrari to ditch their 6.5 litre V12 in the 812. I found it interesting what Tom Hartley was saying, the 458 is holding its value better than the 488 because people prefer the naturally aspirated engine in the former.

A return to a simple naturally aspirated engine would allow new teams to enter, because the likes of Cosworth could economically participate in the sport again.

What’s been clear, the continued push for road relevance has been a path to irrelevance for Formula 1. I was at DTM last year at Brands Hatch, and the car park was fuller than usual. Coulthard was doing demo laps in an old Red Bull F1 V8 car, it was only 3 or so laps. People turned up just to hear that. People don’t care how many motor generators the powertrain has, or whether the powertrain is similar to the engine in their family car. They just want it to be powerful with lots of noise.

People will then say, look at the car manufacturers in Formula E. I would suggest they look at FE’s viewership and attendance, and then get back to me. That won’t be lost on the car makers, and when a few of the car manufacturers get fed up of losing, they will leave. It always happens.

Its also time to overhaul the aerodynamics of the cars. The cars should be clean and clutter-free without a front wing, and if rules were written around that concept, it would be difficult for them to find ways around it. Most of the current teams would complain that all of this would cost too much money, the same teams operating on £300 million annual budgets, never saw anything wrong with the current engine, and keep spending unsustainable amounts on aero development. According to them, they want change, except they keep finding excuses as to why it can’t happen. Its convenient.

If F1 continues the complicated route around a few manafacturers it will probably end up being an also ran sport. The racing must be close, uncomplicated by 'rule' deviations and exceptions. Simpler rules and cars NOT ruled by aero or fake tyre regulations designed to create racing to order rather than a loose set of rules and may the best team/drive win. Not sure that the cars need to be so highly handicapped with road relevant engine/drivetrain packages either, they do little or nothing for road cars. What would I like to see?:-

Simpler aero, FIA designed front and rear wings perhaps.

Proper ICE engines that have soul and NOISE. Tuneful though.

Run F1 like it was supposed to be, team and drivers running the cars to the limit and a bit beyond while making sure the crashtastic antics of a few get hammered and if anyone goes too far (Crashjean for one) they get lost for good.

Preferably two or three tyre manufacturers and see what can be done with them.

I know, better in the rants section perhaps.

The problem is that people always scream and protest about things that actually don't matter. For years every engine manufacturer had their own ECU, it became standardised, but nobody complained. The teams used to use qualifying cars up until 2002, it got banned, and now you won't find anybody who wants the return of qualifying cars. With the wings, its not only the costliest aerodynamic piece, its the most influential in terms of turbulence. Get rid of that, and you would get closer racing. Totally outlawing the front wing would prevent any arguments about it needing to be tweaked. If it were to go, that would be it, no arguments about who many clicks of downforce needed. If the cars didn't have front wings, I don't think many people would refuse to attend races or watch it on television.