Spectators highlight ’step’ out of covid crisis - Todt

Formula 1 is inching towards a return to normal amid the ongoing but potentially easing covid crisis, according to FIA president Jean Todt.

With his latest term as head of F1’s governing body ending late this year, the 75-year-old is committed to enjoying a quieter life from 2022 onwards.

"Above all, I will be able to devote more time to the people I love," Todt told Le Figaro.

He says one of those people is Michael Schumacher.

"I see him regularly but I will be able to visit him a little more - to spend a few days with him and his family," Todt revealed.

For now, though, the diminutive Frenchman is still engaged in the world of Formula 1, where the ’ghost race’ era is slowly ending.

"It’s a step forward," said the Frenchman, referring to this weekend’s race at Paul Ricard in which 15,000 people per day are being admitted.

"After the difficult months we have been through, that’s a pleasing thing," Todt told BFM Business. "We are more ambitious than that but each day things are going in the right direction.

"The reason this weekend’s race was brought forward by a week is because there will be two Austrian grands prix in the next two weeks where we should have more than 15,000 spectators per day," he added.

However, some scheduled races after the summer break are in serious doubt, including Japan and Australia. Nonetheless, Brazil’s Globo claims that tickets for the race at Interlagos have just gone on sale.