F1 planning no extra free-to-air races in 2020

Formula 1 has no plans to put additional races on free-to-air television during the 2020 season.

On Tuesday F1 unveiled the first stage of its revised calendar for the 2020 season with eight events taking place between July and September across Europe, beginning with the Austrian Grand Prix on July 5.

F1 also confirmed it will not make any changes to its pay-TV and free-to-air broadcast arrangements, despite races taking place behind closed doors without spectators for the foreseeable future.

“F1 has existing contracts in place for broadcast and it is right we honour those commitments with our long-term partners,” a statement read on the official F1 website.

“Silverstone will host two events, with one of those events available live as Free-to-air (FTA) within the UK.

"Each market situation is different and has comprehensive highlight packages to complement the live broadcast of the races.”

Channel 4 has the live broadcast rights to show the British Grand Prix in the UK on August 2, though the second race at Silverstone - the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix - is set to remain exclusive to Sky along with all the other races which take place.

Some other sports have made changes to their broadcast arrangements, with Sky Sports announcing that 25 Premier League games will be available free-to-air when the football season resumes this month.

Following back-to-back races in Austria, F1 will travel directly to Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 16, before a second double-header event at Silverstone, and then further rounds in Spain, Belgium and Italy in August and early September.