Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on motorsport

[4] The Norisring round, which was scheduled on 10–12 July, was cancelled because of the difficulties of assembling the infrastructure required for a street circuit and impossibility to be held behind closed doors.

On 14 May 2021, with King County, Washington restrictions still questionable, Pacific Raceways was removed, with the Lucas Oil Winternationals moving to the August date.

Organizers of the Austrian, British and Hungarian Grands Prix were the first to announce that their races could go ahead, but run without spectators and with teams staffed by minimal personnel.

The online races were contested by current and former Formula One drivers, like Lando Norris, Nicholas Latifi, Stoffel Vandoorne, Esteban Gutiérrez, Emerson Fittipaldi, Nico Hülkenberg, Johnny Herbert and Martin Brundle, as well as celebrities and other sportsmen; Norris in particular, alongside Alex Albon, George Russell, and Charles Leclerc, would spend most of the offseason livestreaming on Twitch.

[citation needed] On 29 June 2020, ahead of the season opening race in Austria, McLaren took a loan of £150m from the National Bank of Bahrain to mitigate the effect of coronavirus on the company.

[36] The first few races of the rescheduled 2020 season, included the Austrian, Styrian, Hungarian and two Grands Prix at Silverstone, which all took place in "bio-secure" conditions behind closed doors.

On 30 November 2020, a day after winning the Bahrain Grand Prix, Drivers' Champion Lewis Hamilton announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19, claiming to have been experiencing "mild symptoms".

Prior to the beginning of the 2021 season, three more drivers – Norris, Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly – and Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff all tested positive for COVID-19 in separate occasions.

However, the event would be cancelled on 6 July 2021 for the second consecutive year due to Australia's strict quarantine protocols and travel restrictions to the state of Victoria, where it is held.

[55][56] The Yas Marina round, which was scheduled to support Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was cancelled due to maximum slot for the calendar as an impact of the pandemic.

Formula 3 had not been scheduled to race in Monaco or Azerbaijan, but the Dutch round was also cancelled, along with Russia and Bahrain due to maximum slot for the calendar as an impact of the pandemic.

[57][58][59] On 17 June it was announced that the series would finish at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit with three double headers on three different layouts in August, and that the races in Rome, Sanya, Paris, Jakarta, Seoul, New York and London have been cancelled.

[citation needed] The 3 Hours of Monza round of the 2020 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, scheduled for 19 April, was cancelled.

[60] In wake of the Rudy Gobert and NBA situation, the IndyCar Series initially announced on 12 March that it would hold the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg — the opening race of the 2020 season — behind closed doors.

[61] On 13 March in respect of the NBA suspension, the series announced that it would cancel all races through at least the end of April, including St. Petersburg, Alabama, Long Beach, and Austin.

[67] On 7 May, IndyCar officially announced that the season would begin 6 June with the Genesys 300 at Texas Motor Speedway, with races held with limited spectators (only those that owned units in the Turn 2 Lone Star Tower were allowed to attend the race, a practice that began at the NASCAR weekend in Charlotte that is also owned by Sonic Automotive) and with enhanced safety protocols until further notice.

[74] By September, the Speedway announced there would be up to 10,000 tickets available for spectators for the third series meeting, the Harvest Classic, seated in the grandstands in the Snake Pit section and Turn 1 of the road course.

[85] In early November, three days before the European Grand Prix at Valencia, Tech3 rider Iker Lecuona was forced to sit out of the race, due to Andorran quarantine rules for close contact with individuals who tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

His brother – with whom he lived in Andorra – and his personal assistant both tested positive for the virus on 3 November, meaning Lecuona was forced into a mandatory quarantine of 10 days minimum.

The Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series postponed its scheduled race card at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis just before it was to occur on 14 March.

[93] On 17 April, NASCAR announced that it had postponed the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 (9 May at Martinsville Speedway), but that they still intend to run a full schedule of 36 races.

[106] On 15 August, Austin Dillon became the second Cup Series driver to reveal a positive test, and as a result he missed the Daytona Grand Prix.

With two races still to be made up because of previous cancellations, the Xfinity Series playoff opener was delayed one week, starting with the Alsco 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The Richmond and Las Vegas races were behind closed doors; the first date at the latter track was held before the pandemic, and only began admitting spectators for the relocated NHRA World Finals at its drag strip from 30 October to 1 November.

All other meetings would use the pandemic format of no practice or qualifying with grids set by the competition formula implemented starting with the first August Daytona round.

When the Bristol spring meeting qualifying was cancelled, NASCAR used the competition formula to determine the starting order, a permanent change from the traditional use of owner points.

Teams are expecting the fall-back plan to have the replacement race as part of the Darlington Raceway Cook Out Southern 500 Cup Series Playoff round in September if that should happen.

[136][137] The 2020 Rally Mexico was shortened to allow competitors time to pack their equipment up and return to their headquarters in Europe before a series of travel bans were implemented.

[146] On 7 September, Rally Japan, which was scheduled for the season finale on 11–14 November, was cancelled due to travel restrictions and state of emergency declaration by Japanese government.

[174] Despite taking place in the second half of the year, all 4 blocks (representing Asia (FEMCA), North America (ROAR), Europe (EFRA) and the rest of the world (FAMAR)) and the IFMAR committee have agreed to postpone all remaining IFMAR World Championships (1:10 Electric Touring Car in Heemstede, Netherlands); 1:8 IC Off-Road in Cianorte, Brasil and 1:10 IC Touring Car in Brisbane, Australia) to an alternative date, possibly early 2021.