Moscow ’ready to discuss’ stand-in 2020 F1 race

Moscow Raceway, a permanent venue located 100 kilometres from the Russian capital, says it is "ready to discuss" replacing one of the postponed grands prix in 2020.

So far, Sochi’s September date for the Russian GP is not affected by the coronavirus situation. Only 45 cases of the Covid-19 disease have been reported within Russia.

"Nobody has contacted us yet," Moscow Raceway’s marketing director Tatyana Makhina told Match TV.

"Everyone is well aware that the issues of holding such major competitions are being resolved at the state level. But if such a question arises, we are ready to discuss it," she added.

"We have the necessary license to conduct races of this level. At the time of construction we only lacked the seating, but perhaps now this will no longer be necessary and we could do it quite easily anyway."

Two Russian racing drivers believe the reaction to the coronavirus pandemic is overblown.

"That they are afraid of a virus and cancelled a major multi-million dollar show is stupid," Aleksey Yasilyev told Sportbox.

And Sergey Zlobin, a former Minardi test driver, thinks that the coronavirus hype will eventually die down.

"When losses everywhere reach critical values, the matter will resolve itself," he said.

"People cannot stay at home for too long, you need to do something. And racing teams only make money when they race."