2020 was a difficult year for everyone and it was the same for all forms of motorsport which had to adapt and revise their original 2020 plans in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With 2021 comes the hope for the sport, like everyone, that this coming year will be better than the last. Many have planned for a ‘more usual’ season such as Formula 1, perhaps ambitiously, aiming to contest 23 races across the year. Similarly other series such as MotoGP and the World Rally Championship (WRC) have planned for race schedules with a similar length to those originally planned for 2020 and contested in 2019.
There are still challenges for everyone to face, especially if new variants of the COVID-19 virus aren’t properly contained. This is something that the WRC and Formula E have already encountered with both having to either postpone or cancel events for this year. With such scenarios and challenges in mind some series do have reserve lists of venues that they can turn to should they have to cancel events.
Yet there is also hope with the first vaccines being distributed and administered around the world that life, as it was known in 2019, will return at some point in 2021. This is also aided by the valuable experience that racing series have gained from dealing with the challenges faced in 2020.
It is certain that 2021 is going to be another challenging year for motorsport with series having to adapt once again around the pandemic that has gripped the world. But motorsport has gained valuable experience from 2020 and also has the possibility of life improving thanks to the development and deployment of vaccines, giving hope to everyone within and outside of motorsport that life can and will improve by the end of this year.
The Motorsport Critic 