F1 cancels 4 more races for 2020, adds 3 to calendar

Formula One races in Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United States have all been cancelled for this year amid the coronavirus pandemic, with three others added to the calendar. F1 said in a statement Friday that the Eifel Grand Prix will host a race at the iconic Nurburgring in Germany on Oct. 11, followed by the Portuguese GP in Portim o two weeks later and the Emilia-Romagna GP in Italy on Nov. 1.

The U.S. GP was initially scheduled for late October, with Brazil and Mexico then hosting races in November. Canada was already postponed from its mid-June date. The three new races take this season's total to 13 all of them in Europe with F1 still hoping to have 15-18 races and end the season by mid-December after races in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi.

"We are pleased that we continue to make strong progress in finalizing our plans for the 2020 season," F1 chairman Chase Carey said.

"We also want to pay tribute to our incredible partners in the Americas and look forward to being back with them next season when they will once again be able to thrill millions of fans around the world.

The F1 season has started successfully with three races completed, two in Austria and one in Hungary. There have been only two positive cases for the coronavirus among personnel at the track from nearly 15,000 tests.