Formula 1 Cancels US, Mexican, Brazilian Grand Prix Races Amid COVID-19

Formula 1 announced on Friday that it will not run the U.S., Mexican and Brazilian Grand Prix races because of concerns regarding the coronavirus pandemic.

According to BBC's Andrew Benson, those races will be replaced by races in Europe. F1 will instead run at Nurburgring in Germany, Imola in Italy and Portimao in Portugal.

The U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, had been scheduled for Oct. 23, the Mexican Grand Prix in Mexico City for Oct. 30 and the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo for Nov. 13.

F1 has also decided against attempting to run the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, which was postponed in both April and June.

Formula 1 released the following statement on its decision: "Due to the fluid nature of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, local restrictions and the importance of keeping communities and our colleagues safe, it will not be possible to race in Brazil, USA, Mexico and Canada this season."

The replacement races will be held as follows: Nurburgring on Oct. 11, Portimao on Oct. 25 and Imola on Nov. 1.

F1's 2020 season has been impacted significantly by the coronavirus pandemic, as it has run only three races thus far, with Lewis Hamilton winning two of them and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas winning the other.

There are currently 13 races on the schedule, but F1 hopes to run "between 15 and 18 races this year and end in the Gulf in mid-December," per Benson.

Races have been run in front of no fans thus far; however, tickets have been sold for the Russian Grand Prix in September, meaning the Sochi race could be the first grand prix of 2020 with fans in attendance.

Hamilton is currently atop the drivers' standings with 63 points, followed by Bottas with 58 and Red Bull's Max Verstappen with 33. The 35-year-old Briton is in search of his seventh world drivers' championship—which would tie Michael Schumacher for the most all-time—and fourth in a row.

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Bleacher Report's David Gardner interviews athletes and other sports figures for the podcast How to Survive Without Sports.