F1 Australian Grand Prix Cancelled

Despite its best efforts to go racing – some would say stubborn and foolhardy – the opening round of the 2020 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, has been cancelled after a member of the McLaren F1 team tested positive for the novel coronavirus COVID-19 yesterday.

The F1 contingent had arrived in Melbourne insisting that the race weekend would go ahead as planned amid precautions such as exclusion zones around drivers, members of the paddock and even the fans who had shown up despite fears of the virus’ spread.

Defending world champion Lewis Hamilton had expressed disbelief over F1 and the FIA’s attempt to continue with the opening round and Sebastian Vettel had supported his point of view.

The paddock’s fears were heightened when four members of the Haas F1 team and one from the McLaren F1 team started to show symptoms and were immediately quarantined and tested.

The Haas team members were cleared but the positive result of the McLaren team member raised serious doubts about the event while no official word on a cancellation came from either the FIA or F1.

Teams had privately urged for the cancellation of the event and there had reportedly been a vote in which a majority of teams were in favour of the race weekend being called off.

Finally, a little over two hours ago – and after the BBC had reported that the event would be cancelled – F1 put out an official statement that confirmed that the event would be cancelled and every spectator who bought a ticket would be issued a full refund.

Teams issues statements of support for F1’s decision to finally cancel the event and McLaren stated that 14 other members of the team who came into contact with the person who is infected had been placed in quarantine at the team hotel for 14 days.

The Australian Grand Prix’s cancellation throws into doubt the running of the Bahrain Grand Prix, which had earlier been announced to be run as a closed-door event.

With MotoGP and the FIA World Endurance Championship delaying their events as well, it seems unlikely for us to see top-tier circuit racing for a while.