Formula 1 organizers are planning for a later start to its season, even as it announced that the French Grand Prix had been called off because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The French race, scheduled for June 28, was postponed Monday with France’s ban on major events extending into mid-July, the 10th race on the circuit to be canceled or postponed. However, the season will begin shortly after that date, with a race in early July in Austria.

Chris Carey, the organization’s chief executive officer, said in a statement that he was “increasingly confident with the progress of plans to begin the season this summer” with the first race set for July 3-5. Plans call for races to be staged without fans.

“September, October and November would see us race in Eurasia, Asia and the Americas, finishing the season in the Gulf in December, with Bahrain before the traditional finale in Abu Dhabi, having completed between 15 and 18 races,” he said. “We will publish our finalized calendar as soon as we possibly can.

“We expect the early races to be without fans but hope fans will be part of our events as we move further into the schedule. We still have to work out many issues, like the procedures for the teams and our other partners to enter and operate in each country.

“The health and safety of all involved will continue to be priority one and we will only go forward if we are confident we have reliable procedures to address both risks and possible issues.”

Sports events in France have been pushed back, with French Open officials moved the Grand Slam tennis event from May to September and the Tour de France now set to take place Aug. 29-Sept. 20. The Tour originally was scheduled to begin June 27 in Nice; the French Open was originally scheduled to begin May 24 in Paris. It’s unclear whether the French Grand Prix will be rescheduled.