Spain wants to host summer F1 race

Joan Fonsere – wishful thinking to have fans in August for a Spanish GP

Despite Spain being one of the country's hardest hit with the Chinese virus, The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is begging for a date on the 2020 Formula 1 calendar according to Joan Fonsere, the circuit’s General Manager.

“Since the beginning what we offered to Chase is that we want to be on the same page," said Fonsere to Autosport. “Obviously if they think we can help the sport of F1 to have a stronger and better world championship in the future, we will be there.

“That’s the way we’ve acted from the beginning to today. We offered them the possibility of Barcelona organizing an event, as we have 30 years of experience, and we are very well located in terms of logistics.

“We are in close contact now with F1 and having conversations about a new date in the season. As Chase says, they are starting the season in Europe in July/August, and we will be there, around those dates, for sure."

“They asked us if there is any date which is not possible for us, and we said ‘no’," said Fonsere. “We want to run the event, and we can manage and organize everything to help F1.

“In a regular year, August in Spain everyone is on holiday, but I think 2020 will be an exceptional year, with a completely different calendar. If you talked to me one year ago I would have said, ‘Please, not August!’

“But now it’s OK, also because the reduced format of event would be a good starting point not just for the track facility, but also for the hotels surrounding the area – not starting in a full throttle way.

“We can run an event like that with no spectators in two or three weeks. We can manage that easily, because we have 320 days per year of activity at the track, so our machine is ready when the lights go out.

“Obviously with no attendance it will be much easier because there is no marketing campaign, no spectator control, etc."