Former FIA boss Mosley: F1 should cancel 2020 season

Berlin

Former international motorsport federation president Max Mosley believes the 2020 Formula One season should be cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Waiting risks making things worse with no certainty of gain. There is no guarantee that racing can start again in July, indeed it looks increasingly unlikely," the former FIA head told dpa, Deutsche press agency (dpa) reported.

Asked what advice he could give his successor, Jean Todt, Mosley said he was "out of touch with F1" and had no "inside knowledge."

But he felt F1, which has seen the first nine races called off, should now scrap the entire season.

"Then the teams and race promoters would have certainty so they could plan and take action," he said.

It would be better to use the opportunity to reorganise and restructure F1 "so as to put it on a much sounder financial footing for the future."

Formula One has brought forward and extended its summer works shutdown in the hope of resuming later in the season.

But Mosley, who turned 80 on Monday and led FIA from 1993 to 2009, said it was impossible to plan at this stage for the possibility of races behind closed doors, shorter race weekends or multiple races on the same track.

"Until we know what will happen globally with the pandemic, it is not possible to make rational plans for F1," he said.