Portugal lockdown no harm to Portimão TBC race announcement

Portimão's hopes of staging the TBC race on this year's calendar will not be affected by Portugal's latest stringent lockdown, GPFans understands.

The Portuguese government this week ordered a lockdown that will last at least a month after being subjected to a record-breaking surge in confirmed Covid-19 cases after restrictions were eased for Christmas.

On Wednesday, Portuguese health authorities reported 10,556 new confirmed cases and 156 virus-related deaths in 24 hours, both national records, with numbers set to rise further over the coming days.

The situation has not been helped by the discovery of a new Brazilian variant that has resulted in a UK ban on all passengers from South America and Portugal.

The lockdown in Portugal has already led to the cancellation of the Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals in karting that was due to take in Portimão from January 23-30. Rotax power helped spawn the careers of the likes of Max Verstappen, Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen.

Portimão, that made its debut on the Formula 1 calendar last season as part of a heavily revised schedule to combat Covid-19, is to take up the TBC slot on May 2.

F1 announced a revamp to the calendar this week, that included the postponement of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix to mid-November.

The understanding is that given Portugal's lockdown confirmation this week, circuit bosses felt it prudent not to announce the race's return at a similar time.

Confirmation, however, is expected before the end of the month.

Related

More F1 news

Latest F1 news

F1 insider says 'massive news' tweet storm was an accident, but not everybody is buying it

• 5 minutes ago

Fred Vasseur plans clear the air talks with Toto Wolff during F1 break

• 51 minutes ago

F1 News Today: FIA boss issues Horner statement as Newey returns to Red Bull

• 1 hour ago

Goodwood Festival of Speed 2026: The F1 champions and star drivers taking on the hillclimb

• 2 hours ago

Mercedes explain the failure which is giving Kimi Antonelli an F1 title headache

• 3 hours ago

Max Verstappen signs for McLaren and four other F1 silly season moves

• Today 12:27