Red Bull team boss Christian Horner is confident Formula 1 will survive the prolonged shutdown due to the Coronavirus, but has questioned whether all ten teams will do so.
F1’s 70th season almost got underway in Australia before a last minute decision to cancel the race, which was followed by further cancellations and has seen the season officially pushed back to late-June, however it’s highly likely the season won’t begin until August or September.
F1, which has seen its share price tumble, will survive the crisis according to Horner, but he fears at least one or more teams will struggle financially, regardless of the steps put in place to postpone rules in order to cut costs.
“F1 is a very strong business and it’s got enormous heritage,” Horner told BBC Sport. “F1 will survive this.
“Whether all the teams survive this is another matter, and it is the responsibility of all the team principals to act with the interests of the sport and all its participants [in mind], to do our best to ensure all 10 teams come out the other side.”
Horner says the present situation cannot be compared to the 2008 season, which was hit by the economic crash, as teams were still racing and receiving an income compared to now, where income has ground to a halt.
“The difference in 2008 was we were still racing, there was still a calendar, there were still events. You could see the issue more clearly, whereas here we are more blind.
“When will we start racing again? It’s a different scenario. 2008 had its pressures and the people in the room at that time – Ron Dennis, Flavio Briatore and so on – were thinking about the interests of the sport and it is crucial we do that collectively at this time.
“The world is a different place at the moment. Of course revenue is hit very hard. We don’t know how hard it will hit F1 yet.”
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