2020 Season

Driver changes

Esteban Ocon returns to the grid after a year as Mercedes reserve driver, joining Renault and replacing Nico Hülkenberg, who departs after five years with the team. Nicholas Latifi, the 2019 Formula 2 Championship runner-up, makes his competitive debut at Williams, replacing Robert Kubica. Kubica spent one season back in Formula One before moving to a reserve driver role with Alfa Romeo Racing.

Team changes

Scuderia Toro Rosso is renamed Scuderia AlphaTauri, competing under the constructor name “AlphaTauri” derived from Red Bull’s fashion brand. Mercedes adopts an all-black livery for 2020 in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and as a commitment to diversity and ending racism. Formula One launches the We Race As One initiative, with rainbow branding across circuits and team liveries to acknowledge key workers and promote unity during the pandemic.

Calendar

The 2020 season is the most disrupted in Formula One history. Originally 22 rounds were scheduled, with the season opening in Melbourne on 15 March. McLaren withdrew after a team member tested positive for COVID-19, prompting the cancellation of the Australian Grand Prix two days before race day. A chain of postponements and cancellations followed, and the season is rescheduled to begin 5 July at the Red Bull Ring.

Eight rounds are confirmed: Austria hosts two consecutive races — the Austrian and Styrian Grands Prix — the first time in World Championship history that the same venue and circuit layout hosts back-to-back rounds. The sequence continues to Hungary, then Silverstone for two races, Spain, Belgium, and Italy. Formula One is targeting 15 to 18 races in total, running into December. All eight confirmed races are held without spectators.

For the first time since 2009 there is no round in North America. The Americas are absent from the calendar entirely for the first time since the championship’s inception in 1950. Monaco is absent for the first time since 1954.

Regulation changes

Teams are permitted one additional MGU-K unit compared to 2019 to offset the demands of the originally planned 22-race calendar. Free practice drivers can earn up to ten FIA Super Licence points across three seasons by completing at least 100 km in a session without a driving infraction. The restriction on helmet design changes in place since 2015 is lifted, with drivers now free to change their designs as often as they like between races.

Pre-season testing is shortened from two four-day sessions to two three-day sessions; in-season tests at Bahrain and Barcelona are discontinued. The period during which mechanics cannot work on the car is extended from eight to nine hours. Jump start and weighbridge penalties are made less rigid, with stewards able to issue lighter sanctions.

On the technical side, the last 50 mm of the front wing can no longer contain metal, to reduce puncture risk. Brake ducts must now be designed and manufactured by each team rather than outsourced. The volume of fuel permitted outside the fuel tank is reduced from 2 litres to 250 millilitres. Reduced electronic driver aids mean drivers take more responsibility for managing torque during race starts.

Pre-season testing

Two three-day tests at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in February were completed as planned, with all teams and drivers finishing all six days of testing before the pandemic disrupted the rest of the calendar.