2020 Formula 1 season could start in June

The 2020 Formula 1 season could now start in June at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic following the cancellation of the Australian Grand Prix.

This weekend’s season-opening event in Melbourne was called off after McLaren withdrew from the race after a member of its team tested positive for COVID-19.

With April’s Chinese Grand Prix already postponed, F1 championship officials and the FIA are now evaluating upcoming races in Bahrain and Vietnam, which are scheduled to take place on March 22 and April 5 respectively.

Both events are now under serious doubt, with F1 understood to also be considering whether to postpone the Dutch, Spain and Monaco Grands Prix and start the season in Baku on June 7.

"At this point our focus really is dealing with the issues this weekend," Carey said.

"Clearly, I just came in from Vietnam, so we are in discussion with partners on the upcoming races.

“But I think at this point what we really want to do is make sure we deal with the issues here, deal with them properly.

"But in the coming days, clearly we will be addressing the events yet to come. It's a pretty difficult situation to really predict, everybody uses the word fluid - it is obviously a fluid situation.

"The situation today is different than it was two days ago, which is different than it was four days ago. So trying to look out and make those sorts of predictions when it's changing this quickly is challenging.”

Carey said the fast-changing developments around the coronavirus outbreak means F1 is dealing with “an array of complexities” in multiple countries.

"Everybody wants an answer and we'd love to have an answer,” he replied when asked where F1 personnel should book tickets to next.

"I think you can't force an answer to something that right now you don't have an answer to. I think we just have to continue doing what we're doing, reaching out to everybody, every expert, we can around the world.

"Clearly we're a global sport. And therefore, you know, we're not just dealing with a single country issue, we're dealing with an array of complexities. But I think we have to continue to deal with those as the situation evolves."