MARCH 4, 2021

Wolff tips return of F1 spectators in 2021

Toto Wolff thinks spectators will begin to return to Formula 1 races in 2021.

Toto Wolff thinks spectators will begin to return to Formula 1 races in 2021.

That is despite the fact that June's Azerbaijan GP has already announced that spectators will not be allowed to gather around the Baku street layout.

"I'm always a pessimist by nature and trying to calculate for the worst-case scenario," said the Mercedes boss, just days after F1 revealed its almost $400 million loss of 2020.

"But with covid I am trying to remain an optimist," Wolff told Sky Deutschland.

"We are seeing a vaccination trend that is incredibly positive, at least here in England. I think over 30 percent of the population is vaccinated now and that will also be the case in other countries.

"I think we will race in front of spectators here and there, perhaps with a vaccination certificate or not completely full houses. But it will be something like that to return to something like normality.

"Of course this virus story will haunt us some more, but we will learn to deal with it. I think Formula 1 can have spectators again in the summer or the autumn - even a lot of spectators," he added.

(GMM)