Formula One fires up, four months late and without a crowd

LONDON, (Reuters) – Formula One starts its season in Austria this week, nearly four months later than planned due to the COVID-19 pandemic and against a very different backdrop even if Lewis Hamilton’s targets remain the same.

The six-time world champion can equal Ferrari great Michael Schumacher’s record seven while his Mercedes team are bidding for an unprecedented seventh successive drivers’ and constructors’ title double.

This year’s only rookie, Canadian Nicholas Latifi, could find his Williams team are under new ownership before his first campaign is over.

Sunday will be the first time Austria has hosted a season-opener, at Spielberg’s scenic Red Bull Ring, and the following weekend will see another milestone when the circuit becomes the first to host two F1 championship races in the same season.

Hamilton, who needs seven more wins to equal Schumacher’s record 91, should have a faster car than would have been the case had the season started in Australia on March 15 but so too will rivals bringing months’ worth of updates.