Poll: Australian Grand Prix 2020, Melbourne - Race 1/22

Rate the marble racing video

  • Total voters
    36
  • Poll closed .

englishpremier

englishpremier

englishpremier

Soldato
Joined
15 Feb 2003
Posts
10,050
Location
Europe
UTmaniac said:
Thought I read Williams pulled out of Oz GP a few hours ago, in addition to McLaren.

If Seb and Kimi have flown out, this situation of no official statement of cancellation or postponement is absolutely surreal!
Click to expand...

F1/FIA/Liberty have left it late. As for the teams pulling out, I believe they are contractually obliged to participate and F1 would have well been in its rights to run the event without them and/or seek damages. Of course this cold/flu seems to have caused some exceptional circumstances.
 

Flibster

Flibster

Flibster

Man of Honour
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
40,009
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...0-australian-grand.KKpXZDcd77WbO6T0MGoO7.html

This weekend’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne has been cancelled. The news follows McLaren’s withdrawal from the race on Thursday, after one of their team members tested positive for the coronavirus.

A statement issued jointly by F1, governing body the FIA and the Australian Grand Prix Corporation read: "Following the confirmation that a member of the McLaren Racing Team has tested positive for COVID-19 and the team’s decision to withdraw from the Australian Grand Prix, Formula 1 and the FIA convened a meeting of the other nine team principals on Thursday evening. Those discussions concluded with a majority view of the teams that the race should not go ahead.

"Formula 1 and the FIA, with the full support of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation (AGPC) have therefore taken the decision that all Formula 1 activity for the Australian Grand Prix are cancelled.

"We appreciate this is very disappointing news for the thousands of fans due to attend the race and all ticket holders will receive a full refund and a further announcement will be communicated in due course.

"All parties took into consideration the huge efforts of the AGPC, Motorsport Australia, staff and volunteers to stage the opening round of the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship in Melbourne, however concluded that the safety of all members of the Formula 1 family and the wider community, as well as the fairness of the competition take priority."
Click to expand...

Oh, check the timestamp on the announcement on the F1 website - posted 8 HOURS AGO!

So the decision was made last night, informed the Australian Grand Prix people 2 hours before FP1... FFS...
 

Flibster

Flibster

Flibster

Man of Honour
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
40,009
ES8j23iXsAAHnLy.jpg


Quick and dirty translation:

Scuderia Ferrari expresses it's total support to the decision taken by FIA and Formula 1 together with the Australian Grand Prix Corporation to cancel the Australian Grand Prix, expected from Friday 13th to Sunday 15th March at the Albert Park circuit of Melbourne.

The safety of each team member is the absolute priority, especially in the phase of continuous and rapid evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The team expresses it's deep sadness for the Albert Park audience who were preparing to welcome with the usual enthusiasm the Formula 1 and for fans who would follow the Grand Prix throughout the world.
 

Greboth

Greboth

Greboth

Soldato
Joined
6 Aug 2010
Posts
5,629
Location
Birmingham
So after the Ferrari fiasco they make a press release saying they oppose anything that undermines the reputation and image of F1.

One week later.

Absolutely ridiculous that it got this far. It was questionable in the first place but as soon as the first confirmed case happened it should have been an easy choice to cancel.

I can’t see any of these first races going ahead. Maybe by the European let we will have a better idea of what’s going on and maybe have some racing.
 

Entai

Entai

Entai

Caporegime
Joined
28 Feb 2004
Posts
74,822
Hope no one had shares in F1.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.gpfans.com/amp/article.php?id=50761

The Formula One GROUP share price has tumbled in recent days and was trading at as little as $28.23 on Wednesday having opened at $30.96.

This drop wiped an estimated $600 million from the value of the sport, taking the total loss to $2.6 billion since hitting a high in January.

Apparently since Mclaren announced they were not running the value has dropped over another billion.
 

The_Abyss

The_Abyss

The_Abyss

Soldato
Joined
15 May 2007
Posts
12,804
Location
Ipswich / Bodham
Spit said:
I’ve travelled here to watch it, what a joke.
Click to expand...
Genuinely sorry for you - it would have been a unique trip but it is a unique set of circumstances that have led to a disappointment.

Separately, it would be easy to say that F1 has **** the bed here with such a late decision, or that they should have done something sooner. I'm right in the VIP position in the line to criticise them, but with the balancing pressures of meeting existing commitments there really was little else that they could have done except try and put on the race until it became practicably impossible to do so.

However, they can now take a very close long term look at both season and sport, and act now. This will not be a full season, and it may no even qualify as a reduced season.
 

Merlin5

Merlin5

Merlin5

Soldato
Joined
17 Aug 2009
Posts
17,816
Location
Finchley, London
Flibster said:
Click to expand...

If, as Brundle suggested, that the start of the season might be postponed till May or June, presumably they would need to pump out a lot of the races on consecutive weeks. Otherwise there wouldn't really be enough time to finish the season much before next March if they spaced them out as they usually do with 2 week gaps between GPs. And the knock on effect of that could introduce a lot of different dynamics as teams and drivers may get fatigued which in turn could lead to a lot of mistakes during races.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom