2020 Formula One World Championship
The 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship was the motor racing championship for Formula One cars which was the 71st running of the Formula One World Championship. It marked the 70th anniversary of the first Formula One World Drivers' Championship. The championship was recognised by the governing body of international motorsport, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. Drivers and teams competed for the titles of World Drivers' Champion and World Constructors' Champion, respectively.
The championship was originally due to start in March, but the start was postponed until July in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season was originally due to be contested over a record of 22 Grands Prix, but as some races were cancelled and new races were added to replace them, a total of 17 races were run. The season started in July with the and ended in December with the. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first eight rounds of the championship were run behind closed doors, with the rest of the races being run at a reduced capacity or also behind closed doors due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes entered the season as the reigning World Drivers' and World Constructors' champions, respectively, after they both won their sixth championship in 2019. At the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Mercedes secured their seventh consecutive Constructors' Championship making them the only team to win seven consecutive championships, breaking Ferrari's record from to. Mercedes also maintained the distinction of being the only team to win the championship since the 2014 turbo-hybrid engine regulation changes were enacted. Hamilton equalled Michael Schumacher's record of seven World Drivers' Championships at the Turkish Grand Prix and broke Schumacher's previous record of 91 career wins at the.
Sebastian Vettel endured a difficult season with Ferrari, finishing thirteenth in the standings and amassing only 33 points with one podium finish. This would also be his final season with Ferrari, as he would go on to join Aston Martin—the rebrand of Racing Point—for the 2021 season, where he would spend two seasons before retiring from F1 at the end of 2022 season. Ferrari finished outside of the top five in the Constructors' standings for the first time since.
Entries
Each team was required to enter at least two drivers, one for each of the two mandatory cars. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Pirelli.Free practice drivers
Across the season, four drivers drove as a test or third driver in free practice sessions. Jack Aitken and Roy Nissany both drove for Williams at one and three Grands Prix, respectively, Robert Kubica drove for Alfa Romeo Racing at five Grands Prix and Mick Schumacher drove for Haas at one Grand Prix.Schumacher and Callum Ilott were entered to appear in the first practice session for the, driving for Alfa Romeo Racing and Haas, respectively, but the session was cancelled due to bad weather conditions.
Team changes
, the parent company of Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso, renamed Toro Rosso as "Scuderia AlphaTauri". The team uses the constructor name "AlphaTauri". The name is derived from Red Bull's AlphaTauri fashion brand.Driver changes
After a year's absence, Esteban Ocon returned to racing in Formula One after signing a contract with Renault, replacing Nico Hülkenberg. Robert Kubica left Williams at the end of the 2019 championship and joined Alfa Romeo Racing as a reserve driver. Nicholas Latifi, the 2019 Formula 2 Championship runner-up, replaced Kubica at Williams.Mid-season changes
A day before the British Grand Prix weekend, Racing Point driver Sergio Pérez tested positive for COVID-19 and was ruled out of the race weekend. After seeking clarification from Public Health England, Racing Point stated that they intended to let Pérez race in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix pending a negative coronavirus test. This re-test came back positive and so Pérez was also unable to take part in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. He was replaced for both races by Nico Hülkenberg, who had raced for the team's predecessor Force India in and from to, and last raced in Formula One at the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Pérez had a negative coronavirus test result the week preceding the Spanish Grand Prix weekend and he competed in the Grand Prix having been cleared by the FIA to return. Pérez's Racing Point teammate Lance Stroll felt ill prior to the Eifel Grand Prix and tested positive for the coronavirus on the day of the race. Hülkenberg again raced for the team.After Romain Grosjean suffered burns to his hands following a crash at the Bahrain Grand Prix, Haas promoted test driver Pietro Fittipaldi to make his debut at the Sakhir Grand Prix. Grosjean also missed the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix because of his recovery after the crash in Bahrain; Fittipaldi raced again for the team. Lewis Hamilton tested positive for the coronavirus prior to the Sakhir Grand Prix and was forced to sit out. He was replaced by George Russell, with Jack Aitken replacing Russell at Williams. Hamilton returned to Mercedes for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, after testing negative for the coronavirus, with Russell returning to Williams.
Calendar
Twenty-two Grands Prix were originally scheduled for the 2020 World Championship. However, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in numerous race cancellations and postponements. A rescheduled calendar consisted of seventeen Grands Prix, nine from the original 2020 calendar and eight other Grands Prix, while the other thirteen original 2020 races were cancelled. This also meant that the season started with two races in Austria, and later on in the season there were also two races at Silverstone Circuit along with two races at Bahrain International Circuit. Each race is the minimum number of laps that exceeds a total distance of. Under the sporting regulations, a minimum of eight races must take place for the season to be considered a championship. As a result of the cancellations and changes, no round was held in North America for the first time since 2009 and no round was held in the Americas for the first time since the championship's inception in 1950.Cancelled Grands Prix
The following rounds were included on the original calendar published by the World Motor Sport Council but were cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic:Changes from the 2019 calendar to the original 2020 calendar
After purchasing the commercial rights to the sport from CVC Capital Partners in January 2017, Liberty Media announced plans to expand the Formula One calendar using a concept they termed "destination races" and modelled on the Singapore Grand Prix. Under the "destination races" model, Grands Prix would be established in or near key tourist destinations and integrate racing, entertainment and social functions. Several countries and venues announced plans to bid for a Grand Prix, with two bids being successful:- The Vietnamese Grand Prix was announced as the first new race created under Liberty's management. The race was given a provisional date of April 2020 and was planned to take place in the capital Hanoi on the Hanoi Circuit, but was later cancelled.
- The Dutch Grand Prix was due to be revived, with the race scheduled to take place at the Circuit Zandvoort. The 2020 race would have marked the first time the Dutch Grand Prix has been run since. However, the race was later cancelled.
Regulation changes
Sporting regulations
Teams were allowed to use an additional MGU-K compared to 2019 to compensate for the increased demands of contesting the originally planned twenty-two races.Drivers who participated in free practice sessions were eligible for additional FIA Super Licence points. Any driver who completed a minimum during a free practice session received an additional Super Licence point on the condition that they do not commit a driving infraction. Drivers could only accrue ten Super Licence points across a three-season period from free practice sessions. The rules around helmet designs were relaxed with drivers allowed to change their design as many times as they wanted between races, having previously been restricted to a base design and one permitted major design change since 2015.
As a result of what was then planned to be an expanded calendar, the two pre-season tests which took place at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya were reduced in length from four days to three days each, whilst the two in-season tests that took place at Bahrain International Circuit and Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in 2019 were discontinued. Teams were no longer allowed to hide their cars during testing. The amount of time in which car mechanics were prohibited from working on the car was extended from eight to nine hours.
The rules surrounding jump starts and the weighbridge were relaxed with the race stewards able to hand out less severe punishments for missing the weighbridge and jump starts.