W Series announced on Thursday that it has canceled its entire 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the all-female single-seater championship will return in 2021.
The novel series which was put on track in 2019 had initially scheduled a calendar of eight races, with last year's champion Jamie Chadwick set to defend her title in 2020.
"After the resounding success of W Series’ debut season in 2019, our decision not to stage on-track races until 2021 is not one that has been taken lightly," explained Catherine Muir, W Series CEO..
"However, we are already working on an exciting new W Series race calendar for 2021, and we are delighted to be able to confirm that W Series races will feature on the support cards of a number of Formula 1 Grands Prix next year, including the 2021 United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas and the 2021 Mexican Grand Prix at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
"However, now that we have taken the very difficult but ultimately unavoidable decision to end any uncertainty surrounding our 2020 plans, we will focus our energies clearly on 2021, when we will resume our on-track racing programme, bigger and better than ever before."
©WSeries
Following its inaugural campaign, W Series received recognition for the FIA which qualified the series to award Formula 1 superlicence points to its competitors.
"W Series has had an incredible impact on the world of motorsport, and we were excited to have them join our schedule this year," said Ross Brawn, F1 director of motorsports.
"It is a big disappointment for all of us that due to the difficulties presented by COVID-19 the events will not take place, but we are looking forward to some exciting racing in 2021 when W Series returns."
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