Hamilton predicts 'lonely' 2020 F1 season without fans

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have recorded a message for fans in which the reigning Formula 1 champion says it will feel lonely out on track with empty grandstands.

When out on track, the 20 Formula 1 drivers are usually in the company of an army of thousands of fans. In 2020, this cannot happen.

"We are preparing in the best way we can for what is going to be the most difficult season I think, that Formula 1 and all of us have experienced, with the difficult times we've faced and the changes that we've had to make in order to operate," said Hamilton in a Mercedes tweet.

"We're going to miss you at the races. I'm going to miss seeing you guys at the races.

"Driving past empty stands is just going to be not too inspiring, it's going to be quite lonely, but we'll know that you guys are still there with us in spirit."

A message from the Champ ahead of ‘Lights Out’ in Austria! ?

Drop a ❤️ if you’ll be supporting from home! ? pic.twitter.com/3VHcMzTkG9

— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) June 25, 2020

Hamilton has previously commented, "For us it’s going to be like a test day. Probably even worse than a test day in a sense – at a test day there’s not a huge amount of people at Barcelona that come to watch but there are still some.

“But here you’re going to have nobody in the crowd and you’re just going to see empty seats as you’re driving down.”

The Formula 1 season will commence with practice one at the Austrian Red Bull Ring on July 3.

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