AUSTRALIA PULLS THE BRAKES
Turmoil as seasonopening Grand Prix is cancelled
FORMULA One’s season was thrown into turmoil yesterday with the Australian Grand Prix cancelled just hours before cars were due to hit the track amid fears that more races will be called off as the coronavirus pandemic takes its toll.
The decision follows April’s Chinese Grand Prix being postponed and with the second race of the year in Bahrain due to be held without spectators, leaving huge question marks over the rest of the calendar.
“We will in the coming days be looking at races that are more imminent like Bahrain and Vietnam,” F1 chief Chase Carey said in Melbourne.
“And we will have further announcements and decisions on how we navigate the short-term elements of our schedule. We know there are issues there.”
The future of the Australian race, the first of the season, was also in doubt on Thursday when McLaren pulled out after one of its team members tested positive for the virus.
McLaren revealed yesterday that 14 other staff were now in a mandatory two week quarantine after being in close contact with the man, casting doubts on whether it will be able to compete in Bahrain even if the race goes ahead.
The McLaren employee was among eight Formula One personnel who went into isolation after showing flu-like symptoms typical of the disease this week.
The other seven — including four from the Haas team — all returned negative results.
The fast-moving developments sparked a crisis meeting between the race organisers, the FIA, teams and Formula One promoters late Thursday to discuss whether tomorrow’s race should go ahead.
“Those discussions concluded with a majority view of the teams that the race should not go ahead,” they said in a joint statement just hours before the first official practice session and with fans queueing to get in.
It added while fans would be disappointed, “the safety of all members of the Formula 1 family and the wider community, as well as the fairness of the competition take priority.”
Teams quickly began packing up to leave the circuit as some fans, many travelling from overseas, fumed at the way they were treated.
“We had to find out from Twitter, not from the organisers and have been waiting here for hours in the line,” one told the Herald
Sun newspaper.
World champion Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes was one of the teams that requested the cancellation.
Formula One website Autosport said seven teams supported ditching the race with three — Red Bull, its sister squad Alpha Tauri and Racing Point — willing to continue.
European countries that are home to many of the F1 teams and journalists have had a high number of confirmed cases, notably Italy.
Hamilton — gunning to match Michael Schumacher’s record seven world crowns this season — on Thursday said he was stunned the race was still scheduled as fears mount about the spread of the epidemic.
Australia has reported more than 180 cases of coronavirus so far, including among fans who attended the women’s T20 Cricket World Cup final and a Super Rugby match, both in Melbourne last week.