GOING FAST WHILE STANDING STILL

Sitting at home with the need for speed (pun intended), but not a set of wheels in sight, is not a bad thing after all. Allow us to fill you in on why...

- SUDIPTO CHAUDHURY

MOTORSPORT HAS A repertoire of toughness, of champions thriving, and not just surviving through unfavourable conditions. Think Michael Schumacher’s outstanding performance in the rain soaked 1996 Spanish GP, or Toby Price riding to victory in the 2019 Dakar (already regarded as the toughest rally in the world) while nursing a broken wrist! These and many more fabulous stories of determination can be gleaned from multiple formats of motorsport across decades of existence.

So, when people initially heard of a strain of viral influenza on the news, most of them dismissed it as ‘just another case of the flu.’ And they weren’t wrong to think so, as the effects from previous such instances, like the SARS (Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak of 2003 and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) epidemic of 2012 were largely localised, and usually brought under control within a few months. This time around, however, things took on a completely different turn, as this new antagonist ravaged the globe.

e-Racing has exploded in popularity during the lockdown and could be all the racing we see in 2020

“Confirmed. Cancelled. F***!” Those were the Ed’s exact words on hearing of the 2020 Australian GP’s cancellation on the Friday of its race weekend. And why not? Even before we could fathom it, the situation had already strayed beyond control. It all started when a positive case of the coronavirus was confirmed within McLaren Racing, causing other teams to scrap the race as well. Next, the Monaco GP was also cancelled; the first time in decades that F1 didn't run this legendary race.