Australian GP chief comes clean

AUSTRALIAN Grand Prix chief Andrew Westacott says the “perfect storm” unfolded as the season-opening race in Melbourne was cancelled due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The late nature of the call, long after it had been discovered the deadly Covid-19 had made its way into the paddock, has drawn fierce criticism. “The timing was probably the perfect storm, but it was anything but perfect for all of the teams. The FIA is involved. The teams are involved. Formula 1 is involved. The Victorian government is involved and then there’s timezones that aren’t necessarily conducive to making decisions… and things changed overnight. That’s why there was, sadly, some frustration from the fans at the gate. There were a number of different scenarios… that had been compressed within an hour or three and unfortunately we had to decide a complete outcome before telling people. We had to advise the right things to people at the right time. That’s the way it panned out.”