Formula 1: Another 2020 race in jeopardy?

Another race on the 2020 Formula 1 schedule could be in jeopardy due to the coronavirus after the Chinese Grand Prix was called off.

The Chinese Grand Prix, which was slated to serve as the fourth of a record-breaking 22 races on the 2020 Formula 1 schedule on Sunday, April 19, was canceled due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

While Formula 1 did not rule out rescheduling the event, it is clear that finding a date that would not conflict with any other commitment nor create three straight race weekends will be a big challenge, and it was already confirmed that it would not swap places with any other races later in the season.

Now a completely opposite possibility has emerged.

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Another race could be in jeopardy due to coronavirus outbreak, possibly joining the 58-lap race around the 16-turn, 3.388-mile (5.452-kilometer) Shanghai International Circuit road course in Jiading, Shanghai, China as another event to be axed.

The Vietnamese Grand Prix has never taken place before, but the inaugural running of the 55-lap race around the 23-turn, 3.484-mile (5.607-kilometer) Hanoi Street Circuit temporary street circuit in Nam Từ Liêm, Hanoi, Vietnam is scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 5.

Now there is a chance that this race also might not happen.

Vietnam borders China to the south, and if the coronavirus outbreak continues, that could put Formula 1 in a position to cancel the event in favor of the safety of drivers, teams, fans and other race officials.

Vietnamese authorities recently placed more than 10,000 people in the Son Loi farming region under quarantine following the discovery of six new cases of the virus there.

This region lies roughly 25 miles from the track, and this marks the first mass quarantine outside of China since the outbreak started. Vietnam has seen 16 confirmed infections, and more than 1,000 lives have been claimed by the disease worldwide.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown believes that there is no sense in risking the lives of thousands more people just for a race. Here is what he had to say, according to The Guardian.

"“We are going to monitor the situation. We would never do anything that puts our people at risk and I don’t believe that F1 would.”"

Second-year McLaren driver Lando Norris echoed the same sentiment.

"“I am not so happy we can’t go to China because of the coronavirus. But safety rises above all other things – money, sponsors and everything. It is a shame but all the decisions that have been made were made for the right reasons. … I would love to go there [to Vietnam]. If we don’t get the chance to then obviously I won’t be so happy but that’s how it is.”"

Should the Vietnamese Grand Prix be canceled, it would make the month of April completely free of Formula 1 racing.

The cancellation of the Chinese Grand Prix already effectively created a four-week “spring break”, matching the length of the annual “summer break”, and the cancellation of the race that was slated to take place two weeks prior would create a six-week hiatus, as the race before the Vietnamese Grand Prix, the Bahrain Grand Prix, is scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 22.

The next confirmed race on the 2020 Formula 1 calendar would then be the Dutch Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort on Sunday, May 3. The season is scheduled to get underway on Sunday, March 15 with the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit.