Well done F1 for holding a season in the pandemic - but what happens next?

The 2020 Australian Grand Prix was cancelled on 13 March. The decisions that led to the Formula 1 paddock flying halfway across the world as the full horrors of the pandemic unfurled and the event being cancelled shortly before the season's first practice session was supposed to start shocked the championship.

But it was nothing compared to what was to come, as most F1 personnel flew home just before the spring lockdowns shut down the world.

Yet nine months later, on 13 December, the 2020 season concluded successfully in Abu Dhabi.

In between, Lewis Hamilton racked up 11 wins and 347 points - 307 of which were enough to secure the championship three races early, crucially before he contracted COVID-19 and missed a race - while Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen (two each), Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez (one each) took the rest.

PLUS: How COVID played a part in Mercedes' domination

F1 effectively reorganised an entire calendar, with only nine races from the original keeping their places and just three taking place on their pre-COVID assigned dates.

As F1's regulator, the FIA swung into action "really [at] the start of April", F1 race director Michael Masi tells Autosport - working on a plan to get motorsport going again. It needed to do so as soon as the pandemic abated enough for society to begin functioning close enough to normal life to counter the serious threat it posed to so many businesses and lives.

It took World Health Organisation guidelines, as well as the advice of epidemiologists and other specialists (safety and risk management regarding sporting events) and put an in-house team of 7-8 people to work on establishing protocols that would enable an F1 season. This team worked in parallel with F1's own organisational team, as well as dedicated legal and medical experts.

"Our group worked almost day and night for some weeks to establish this protocol," explains FIA operations director Bruno Famin (above), with most of the work being completed throughout the May-June period when F1 concentrated on reorganising the first part of its 2020 calendar.

From 19 June, the FIA's COVID-19 Code of Conduct was established, with its 'Return to Motor Sport' guidelines for clubs and championships released a week later. The protocols established for F1 were adapted for other series and were enshrined in regulation by the FIA's new Appendix S for the International Sporting Code.

F1 personnel had to agree to a regime of regular testing after undergoing a pre-event test (these were the only ones the FIA did not pay for) and keeping to social distancing requirements at the venues, where the RTMS guidelines identified how to reduce personnel levels while keeping to existing safety standards. Only four races allowed spectators in over the course of the reformed season.

"The most difficult thing, I think, is quite obvious," says Famin. "It was to make sure that we properly managed the right tests with the right results, with the right person. At the beginning, it was a bit touchy to be honest. After we industrialised the process, it was easier. But the main concern of course was to get the right result with the right person."

"When we restarted in July, we were really on the lower [ebb] of the pandemic. I think we had our first positive case in Hungary - event number three. After [that] you can see in the weekly figure we had an average of let's say 10, minus two, plus two, positive cases per a normal week, which is normal" Bruno Famin

The FIA was thoroughly impressed with the co-operation it received from F1's teams, who all had their sporting managers involved in helping the governing body establish the COVID-secure protocols. But there was no chance to test the new rules before the season started, which it eventually did at the Red Bull Ring.

PLUS: How F1's marshals will work through COVID-19 safety measures

This venue played a key role in getting F1's season in. Red Bull owning and promoting the venue in Austria, and being "quite powerful", per Famin, was fundamental to getting the season up and running. He suggests that the rules were "90%" ready - through necessity, as the lockdowns meant test events were not an option. But the Austrian double-header got them firmly established, and they were transported to the other 11 countries F1 then visited. Some specific local rules were respected as additions, but the FIA protocol remained the same - apart from the requirement to get tested 24 hours after arrival at each race, which came in for the Portuguese GP.

This followed Lance Stroll missing the Eifel GP with what was later established as COVID, but Famin says "there's no relation [or] connection with the Stroll incident". He adds: "But there was a connection of increasing numbers of positive cases [in F1 and Europe overall, as the second wave bit]. To make sure that the filter was even more efficient, we added this additional test within the 24 hours [after arrival at a race].

"When we restarted in July, we were really on the lower [ebb] of the pandemic. I think we had our first positive case in Hungary - event number three. After [that] you can see in the weekly figure we had an average of let's say 10, minus two, plus two, positive cases per a normal week, which is normal."

After one positive coronavirus test result stopped the Melbourne race, the new system was built in such a way that Famin says it was "able to manage positive cases" and keep the season rolling on.

Considering what was at stake - the ongoing existence of F1's teams, their suppliers, the tracks - potentially every level of motorsport was at risk. That F1 got a season in was remarkable. All other series deserve credit too for completing or holding their seasons, but, as motorsport's premier championship, what happened to F1 this year was critical.

"As an industry, as a sport, collectively - and I mean everyone involved - should be very proud of what we've achieved," says Masi.

"Myself and Steve Nielsen from F1 [sporting director] had three major milestones. One was the pitlane opening in Austria for FP1, which was a big tick. The second was getting to Monza Sunday night - because that's a world championship with eight events complete. And the third one was getting to Abu Dhabi on race day Sunday."

F1's nature means travelling. Silverstone, slightly tongue-in-cheek, offered to host 12 races this year to help the championship fulfil its lucrative broadcast contracts - but that is not F1. It has to travel, and travel has obviously been extremely difficult in 2020. Getting all the required kit transported around while countries were changing their lockdown status - particularly towards the end of the campaign - was a real challenge.

That nomadic nature is the biggest barrier to returning to 'normal' F1. We now have multiple, wonderful vaccines available to help stop the virus. But, as has been seen so awfully in the UK in recent weeks, the pandemic is far from over. Further and ongoing restrictions are likely.

F1 has announced a 23-race calendar for 2021 that returns to the venues that would've made up the 2020 schedule - plus the controversial new race in Saudi Arabia and one TBC slot in place of Vietnam's now uncertain debut race. The opening race is just under three months away, which is a key consideration for F1's immediate future.

PLUS: The fundamental reset F1 may need in the post-coronavirus world

The COVID protocols work. But the travel restrictions may yet impact the 2021 calendar in a big way. Suggestions that the Melbourne race is looking to implement a similarly strict biosphere to the one that worked successfully in Abu Dhabi are all well and good, but that race actually takes places within the city...

"We're working towards trying to have as 'normal a year' - let's put it in inverted commas - in 2021. But there's elements that will be out of our control" Michael Masi

"If we said in Melbourne on Friday this year - when the Australian Grand Prix was cancelled, that within 7-10 days, basically, the world would be shut down from an international travel [perspective] - I don't think anyone predicted that at all," Masi concludes in regards to 2021. "I think we thought 'OK, something will happen, but nothing major'. And the way that countries [reacted] - Europe going into lockdown, out of lockdown, back into lockdown, within reason, how various countries are coping.

"It's just one of those that we're working towards trying to have as 'normal a year' - let's put it in inverted commas - in 2021. But there's elements that will be out of our control.

"So, we'll just continue working with our partners at F1, working with the various promoters, working with the various national [bodies] with the ASNs in each country, and trying to get as best as possible a process in and then work around that with all of the teams. And do the best job that we collectively can, as we've achieved throughout 2020."

So, we can expect the unexpected to impact what has been planned for F1 2021. But the season just gone has proved there is a successful way to go racing - and it will likely be relied on for a while longer.