Decision on Australian F1 ‘in coming weeks’
Bahrain poised to be 2021 season opener
A final call on staging the Australian Grand Prix will be made in the “coming weeks,” organisers said yesterday following reports it could be postponed over strict travel restrictions and the emergence of a new strain of Covid-19.
Website autosport.com said the Melbourne-based race, which is due to kick off the new season on March 21, would likely be pushed back to later in the year, with Bahrain poised to open the 2021 calendar on March 28.
It pointed to Australia’s tough coronavirus restrictions, which require international travellers to quarantine for two weeks, as posing significant logistical and financial obstacles.
Many of Formula One’s teams are also based in England where cases are surging, spurred by a more infectious new variant, further complicating matters.
Australian organisers said they were working through the issues.
“The Australian Grand Prix Corporation continues to work closely with the Victorian [state] government and Formula 1 on conditions and arrangements relating to the staging of the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne in 2021,” they said in a brief statement.
“Further detail will be provided upon finalisation of arrangements with all parties in the coming weeks.”
Construction around the temporary Albert Park circuit is yet to start and tickets are not currently on sale.
The Australian race, the traditional season curtain-raiser, was called off last year just hours before the first practice session after a McLaren team member tested positive, with drivers scrambling to leave the country.
The pandemic threw the season into chaos and racing only started in Austria in July, with the Melbourne event not rescheduled.
Despite concern about the fate of this year’s race, hundreds of the world’s top tennis players are set to arrive in Melbourne from Jan 15 for 14 days’ quarantine before the Australian Open.
After months of wrangling, authorities allowed them to train for five hours a day in a bio-secure bubble, shuttled between designated hotels and Melbourne Park, where the tournament is held.
Australia has fared much better than many other nations in dealing with the virus following swift action to close its borders to the world and carry out widespread testing.
Life had been returning to relative normality around the country before a new cluster emerged in Sydney last month.
It has since spread to neighbouring Victoria, forcing the closure of some state borders.
ALBON TO RACE IN DTM
Thai racer Alexander Albon will compete in selected rounds of the German Touring Car Championship (DTM) with Red Bull backing this season after losing his Formula One seat to Mexican Sergio Perez.
The DTM said in a statement on Monday that the 24-year-old would race with an as yet unidentified team whenever his Formula One duties as a Red Bull test, reserve and simulator driver allowed.
Albon finished seventh overall in F1 last year but was dropped by Red Bull Racing in December in favour of Perez, a race winner with Racing Point, alongside Dutch driver Max Verstappen.
Red Bull will also back 18-yearold New Zealander Liam Lawson in the DTM.
“The DTM with a high-class field and GT3 sports cars is an interesting platform and a real challenge,” said Red Bull’s motorsport consultant Helmut Marko.