Canada GP axe news expected ’within 48 hours’

It is still not clear whether Canada will host its scheduled Formula 1 race this year - although the signs are not good.

Many sources are predicting that the Montreal round will be scrapped, as regional and federal health authorities worry about the ongoing covid-19 pandemic.

However, deputy federal public chief health officer Dr Howard Njoo said he is yet to hear officially from his counterparts in Quebec.

"We are still waiting for letters of support from the provincial and local levels before starting to do our own analysis," he is quoted by La Presse. "So far we have not received anything."

Dr Njoo said the perspective of the local authorities is "very important" because "it is they who are in the field and know the situation best".

Quebec’s economic minister Pierre Fitzgibbon, meanwhile, said he is expecting to hear official news about the Canadian GP "within 48 hours".

Francois Dumontier, whose Octane Management company promotes the annual event that was also cancelled in 2020, is still declining to comment.