F1 US GP canceled amid concerns about COVID-19
Washington/Xinhua: Formula One has confirmed that the planned race in the United States has been canceled because of the spread of COVID-19.
The cancelation comes along with the removal of the Mexico City Grand Prix, the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo and the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal from this year's schedule.
The US race was scheduled to take place at Circuit of the Americas in Texas' Austin in October, but the state has been hit hard by the pandemic since its reopening.
"I think everyone's on the same page that it's too risky to try to plan that race and risk spending the millions to bring overfreight to get everything geared up," Circuit of the Americas' chairman Bobby Epstein said on Friday. "You really would be betting now on the situation getting a lot better, and I don't think anyone's willing to place that bet."
"It's a big loss for us, but it's also a big loss for the state," Epstein added. "We sold out last year, we would've expected to sell out this year and next year we'll hopefully go and make room for even bigger capacity."
In 2019, the US Grand Prix was estimated to have a direct impact of 392 million US dollars on the local economy, Epstein said.
"I think everyone's planning on next year to be running as usual because you've got a runway all the way to fall of 2021," he said.
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