F1 Reveals 2020 Calendar Dates For First Eight Rounds

F1 officially revealed the dates for the first eight rounds of the 2020 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season today with back-to-back races in Austria set to kick off the action on July 5 and 12. All the eight rounds will be held behind closed doors with no spectators allowed and only essential staff members present at the venues.

As per media reports, the second of the two rounds in Austria will be called the Steiermark Grand Prix and the second of two rounds at Silverstone will be called the Formula 1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.

The 2020 F1 season, the 70th in the sport's history, was originally scheduled to start on March 15 in Melbourne, Australia. A McLaren F1 team member testing positive for COVID-19 led to the cancellation of the event and the spread of the coronavirus meant postponing the start of the season and the cancellation of three more events.

The announcement of eight rounds -- all of which will be held in Europe -- means the calendar meets the minimum requirement of races for an F1 season to be officially recorded.

Announcements about future rounds are expected in the next few weeks as F1 targets holding 15 to 18 of the originally scheduled 22 rounds in 2020. That includes plans to go to venues in Asia, North and South America, and West Asia should the authorities in those countries give the required clearance.

The dates for the opening eight rounds are as follows:

Round 1 - Red Bull Ring, Austria (July 3 to 5)

Round 2 - Red Bull Ring, Austria (July 10 to 12)

Round 3 - Hungaroring, Hungary (July 17 to 19)

Round 4 - Silverstone, Great Britain (July 31 to August 2)

Round 5 - Silverstone, Great Britain (August 7 to 9)

Round 6 - Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain (August 14 to 16)

Round 7 - Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium (August 28 to 30)

Round 8 - Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Italy (September 4 to 6)

Apart from these eight rounds, F1 has also received confirmation from authorities in Brazil that the Brazilian Grand Prix, scheduled for November 13 to 15 at Sao Paulo, will go ahead as planned. Spectators will be allowed for the event, which raised some eyebrows given that Brazil now has the second most cases of COVID-19 in the world after the United States of America.