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This article first appeared in GP Racing magazine.
The truth is out there in the form of grim economic statistics posted by countries the world over: on top of the disruption to everyday life, and the hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths, COVID-19 has brought financial ruination. In the UK alone, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - the essential barometer of a country's economic health - plunged more precipitously in April than it did during the global financial crisis of 2008, or any other previous recession for that matter.
For that reason, many professional sports - including Formula 1 - are desperate to get back to some form of business before the cash runs out. They are teetering on the brink of that figurative precipice.
Liberty Media, owner of F1, has reshuffled its finances to afford short-term protection not just for the commercial rights holder, but for the competitors who depend on it. Already facing its own cashflow issues owing to cancelled and postponed events, F1 has had to advance payments to struggling teams. Even then, two of the biggest names in the business - McLaren and Williams, among the most successful operations of all time - face an uncertain future.
