Berlin - Formula One rules are to be tweaked so that a world champion can be crowned this season even though races are set to take place in just two continents and not three as specified, a media report said on Saturday.
German magazine Auto, Motor und Sport said the governing FIA wants to invoke force majeure because of the coronavirus pandemic's impact on the F1 calendar.
Article 2.4.3.b.ii of the FIA's International Sporting Code requires that races be held on three continents in order for the series to be considered a world championship.
But the FIA has referenced "exceptional circumstances," the report said.
The F1 season only got going in early July in Austria after the original first race in Australia in March and those that followed were curtailed by the pandemic.
F1 has put together a new calendar with 13 races, three of which have already taken place and all of which will be in Europe - including new grands prix at Germany's Nuerburgring, Portugal's Portimao and Italy's Imola.
Three Asian races are expected to be added, with Bahrain and Abu Dhabi at the end of the year and possibly Vietnam or Malaysia beforehand.
But the coronavirus situation in the Americas means planned races in Canada, the United States, Mexico and Brazil cannot go ahead. African races or events in Australasia are not a realistic possibility this year.
dpa