F1 2020 Australian Grand Prix

pjohnson

F1 is back. Not much change aside from liveries. Hulkenberg and Kubica leave the sport to be relaced by the returning Ocon and 2020 Rookie of the Year in waiting Nicholas Latifi.

Inquitus

Massively irresponsible letting this go ahead in light of the Coronavirus. People come from all over the watch F1, as well as the teams coming from multiple countries.

namloc1980

Can't see it going ahead. Be surprised if it does.

jv2000

namloc1980 wrote: »

Can't see it going ahead. Be surprised if it does.

Completely agree, with a number of team members showing symptoms and awaiting test results I think it will take only 1 positive to cancel the whole thing. It is crazy though to think that they could cancel it at this late stage though, an absolute nightmare considering the fans that will have already traveled, the majority of the damage will be already done in my opinion.

Burkie1203

McLaren have withdrawn

pjohnson

Its over.

McLaren have withdrawn. Brawn said no races will go ahead without all 10 teams.

Anjobe

pjohnson wrote: »

Its over.

McLaren have withdrawn. Brawn said no races will go ahead without all 10 teams.

Not quite, he said championship points wouldn't be awarded if any teams were prevented from attending the race by government travel restrictions, but this wouldn't apply if teams themselves chose to withdraw. Having said that however, with the McLaren guy now confirmed with Covid-19, the only responsible move is to cancel.

Jordan 199

pjohnson wrote: »

Its over.

McLaren have withdrawn. Brawn said no races will go ahead without all 10 teams.

Well, I wouldn't be surprised if the race went ahead without McLaren. However if another team withdraws well then the race won't happen.

pjdarcy

Jordan 199 wrote: »

Well, I wouldn't be surprised if the race went ahead without McLaren. However if another team withdraws well then the race won't happen.

Unless it's Williams because let's face it they're very likely to finish last anyway

Luimneach2018

I would expect a cancellation announcement by the end of the day to be honest.

Throws serious doubt over Bahrain as well.

skipper_G

The chief medical officer for the state of Victoria had previously suggested that any return of a positive test in the suspected cases would likely result in cancellation of the Grand Prix. Surely it's inevitable now

Cool_CM

Fair fups to McLaren for making the call. As much as I love F1 and we've all been waiting for the new season, there are much more important things going on at the moment and it's still mind boggling that it has come to the stage where everybody got to Australia in the first place.

Scotty #

It's becoming more likely that there will be no motorsport events for the foreseeable future. Several MotoGP races postponed til November already.

pjohnson

Theres now 11 hours until FP1

According to journos the Team Principals started a meeting about an hour ago about the race fate

AMKC

pjohnson wrote: »

Theres now 11 hours until FP1

According to journos the Team Principals started a meeting about an hour ago about the race fate

11 hours might not seem that long but with the way things are going it is a long time with something like Covid-19 going on. A lot can happen. I think its very highly unlikely the race will go ahead now.

Cork Trucker

If the 2005 USGP went ahead with only 6 cars then anything is possible, lessons learned or not

ELM327

this will not go ahead

pjohnson

AMKC wrote: »

11 hours might not seem that long but with the way things are going it is a long time with something like Covid-19 going on. A lot can happen. I think its very highly unlikely the race will go ahead now.

Its not a long time. Its ridiculous that F1/Liberty havent put an end to it. Seems its up to the teams to cancel it as those above them are doing nothing.

pjohnson

OSI wrote: »

Still on :eek:

https://twitter.com/SkySportsNews/status/1238117921932611584

The result of the team principal's meeting will probably end it.

chicorytip

Should have been called off last week. I think it may be necessary to cancel the entire seasons programme of races. Australia, Bahrain and China are already gone. How and when will these races be rescheduled - unless they decide to run a curtailed championship? Otherwise we could still be racing next February!!

ELM327

Again, this will not go ahead, it is nonsense to expect otherwise

Inquitus

Cancelled postponed finally.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/51849163

AMKC

pjohnson wrote: »

Its not a long time. Its ridiculous that F1/Liberty havent put an end to it. Seems its up to the teams to cancel it as those above them are doing nothing.

What I meant was that a lot can happen in 11 hours. Anyway it does not matter as its postponed now anyway.

Burkie1203

https://twitter.com/HillF1/status/1238226194971197441?s=19

AMKC

Its going ahead now according to reports but without four of the big teams and no fans either.

Burkie1203

AMKC wrote: »

Its going ahead now according to reports but without four of the big teams and no fans either.

4 drivers have already left including Kimi and Seb

v3ttel

Absolute cluster. Seemed like it was off, now it's going ahead with fans? And many drivers?

Seems like Vettel & Kimi are currently on a flight out of Melbourne (unless the someone has used real flight numbers in an elaborate hoax). McLaren have already pulled out.

Fans are surely milling around for FP1 already as it's 10am in Melbourne, yet still no communication.

I really can't imagine how this could have been mismanaged any more. Tell the promoters to do one, and just call it off publicly.

Burkie1203

Can anyone hazard a guess at Gunthers opinion of this ......

Cool_CM

Madness - fans currently queuing outside, support races apparently still going ahead and the Victorian Premier saying no fans will be allowed in. This is a huge clusterfúck.

johnnysmack

Burkie1203 wrote: »

Can anyone hazard a guess at Gunthers opinion of this ......

Bunch of ****

skipper_G

Burkie1203 wrote: »

Can anyone hazard a guess at Gunthers opinion of this ......

"We look like a bunch of....."

AMKC

I take it Netfliks are recording all this for season 3 of ''Drive to Survive'' . Not going to make for a very exciting start to that season if F1 even gets a season this year. I would say they will be doing well to do 10 races this year.

HighLine

https://twitter.com/NobleF1/status/1238240713613234181?s=20

muckwarrior

Officially official https://twitter.com/F1/status/1238240420548751365?s=20

elperello

Uncertain and unprecedented times.

I wouldn't be inclined to be too hard on those involved.

skipper_G

elperello wrote: »

Uncertain and unprecedented times.

I wouldn't be inclined to be too hard on those involved.

Exactly, like nothing experienced in living memory. It's easy for people to criticise from the comfort of home, but I wouldn't like to be the one having to make these kinds of decisions

PsychoPete

I was really looking forward to the season kicking off again

Itssoeasy

elperello wrote: »

Uncertain and unprecedented times.

I wouldn't be inclined to be too hard on those involved.

I'd fully agree with this. Everyone, whether it's F1 or governments or health services should be cut some slack. People are having to make decisions none of them have had to make nor ever believed they'd have to make.

Top Dog

Cancelled rather than postponed?

Cork Trucker

Liberty got their money then? The only loser will be the Australian economy in this case

Inviere

skipper_G wrote: »

but I wouldn't like to be the one having to make these kinds of decisions

I dunno. WHO declared it a dangerous global pandemic which is spreading like wildfire, and they were humming and hawing about whether to allow 300k people sit in close proximity to watch a sporting event, in a standoff over who foots the bill? Burkie1203 is spot on IMO. There were countries shutting schools days before these idiots got off their asses and made a decision. Now we know there's paddock members infected, god knows how many travelled to Australia needlessly risking infection and taking it home to spread.

A huge failure of Aussie governance coupled with the FIA imo.

AMKC

Anyone see the schedule on Sky Sports F1 where the when the race was supposed to be on. Its just blank. I don't have the channel but can see what is or was going to be on it. Maybe Sky should let the fans vote what to have on instead.