2020 Australian Grand Prix

The 2020 Australian Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2020)[2] was a Formula One motor race that was due to be held on 15 March 2020 in Melbourne, Victoria. The race was to be contested at the Albert Park Circuit and was intended to be the first round of the 2020 Formula One World Championship. The race was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2020 Australian Grand Prix
Race TBD of TBD[lower-alpha 1] in the 2020 Formula One World Championship
Layout of the Albert Park Circuit
Race details
Date Planned for 15 March 2020
Official name Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2020
Location Albert Park Circuit, Melbourne, Australia
Course Temporary street circuit
Course length 5.303 km (3.295 mi)
Scheduled distance 58 laps, 307.574 km (191.118 mi)

The race would have been the 85th race in the combined history of the Australian Grand Prix — which dates back to the 100 Miles Road Race of 1928 — as well as the 25th time the event had been held at the Albert Park circuit and the 36th time the Australian Grand Prix had been a part of the Formula One World Championship. This was the first Formula One race to be cancelled since the 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix,[3] which was cancelled due to civil unrest.[4]

Lewis Hamilton entered the round as the defending World Drivers' Champion and his team, Mercedes, was the defending World Constructors' Champions. His team-mate Valtteri Bottas was the defending race winner.[5]

Background

The Australian Grand Prix was officially confirmed as the first of twenty-two races of the 2020 Formula One World Championship at an FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris in December 2019. The race was due to take place at the sixteen-turn, 5.303 km (3.295 mi) Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, Victoria on 15 March 2020.[6]

Entrants
Further information: 2020 Formula One World Championship § Entries

Ten teams each with two drivers entered the race.[7] Scuderia AlphaTauri were due to make their debut as a constructor having previously competed under the name Scuderia Toro Rosso.[8] Esteban Ocon was due to return to the championship, replacing Nico Hülkenberg at Renault.[9] Nicholas Latifi was scheduled to make his competitive debut with Williams, taking the seat previously filled by Robert Kubica.[10] However, these events were all postponed by the cancellation of the race.

Mission Winnow, the title sponsor of Ferrari, was banned from the race as it did not comply with local laws governing tobacco sponsorship.[11]

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
See also: 2020 Formula One World Championship § Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and COVID-19 pandemic in Australia

The weeks before the Grand Prix saw several major sporting events either cancelled or postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was declared a pandemic by World Health Organisation three days before the race. Motorsport events affected included the Chinese Grand Prix,[1] the World Endurance Championship,[12] the MotoGP World Championship,[13] the World Touring Car Cup,[14][15] the Formula E championship,[16] the World Rally Championship,[17] the Japanese Super Formula championship,[18] and the IndyCar Series.[19] The Victorian Department of Health announced that the Australian Grand Prix would go ahead as planned,[20] but Ferrari and AlphaTauri expressed concern as both teams were based in Italy, which had suffered one of the worst outbreaks of the virus outside China.[21][22] As the Australian government did not initially implement a travel ban for Italy the way it had for China, Iran and South Korea,[23][lower-alpha 2] Ferrari and AlphaTauri were concerned over the ability of their staff to leave the quarantine zone established in northern Italy. Ross Brawn, the managing director of the sport, announced that Grands Prix would not go ahead if a team were blocked from entering a host nation, but added that a race could take place if a team voluntarily chose not to enter a host nation.[25] Organisers of the Bahrain Grand Prix, which was scheduled to take place one week after the Australian race, announced that spectators would not be permitted to attend the event. Organisers of the Australian Grand Prix opted against similar measures, instead moving to minimise contact between spectators and competitors.[26] The rule was also applied to competitors in support categories, including the Supercars Championship, S5000 Championship and the TCR Asia-Pacific Cup, which was to be held as a non-championship round of the TCR Australia Series.

Five crew members, four from Haas and one from McLaren, were entered into quarantine upon arriving in Melbourne when they displayed flu-like symptoms.[27][28] All five of them were tested for COVID-19 and the results came out negative for the Haas members but positive for the McLaren member. McLaren made the announcement on Thursday evening to withdraw from the race.[29] A photographer later entered isolation as well.[30] Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews was criticised for allowing the Grand Prix to go ahead, but responded by saying that cancelling the race would be a disproportionate reaction to the advice the state government had been given.[27] Formula One drivers Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Räikkönen were also critical of the decision to hold the race, citing the National Basketball Association's decision to indefinitely suspend its 2019–20 season.[31] Daniel Andrews announced that spectators would be banned from attending if the Grand Prix were to go ahead, before the race was cancelled on the Friday morning a few hours before the Formula One cars were due to commence their first practice session.[32] It subsequently emerged that only three teams—Red Bull Racing, its sister team Scuderia AlphaTauri and Racing Point—were willing to compete if the race went ahead.[33] After the cancellation, a further fourteen team members from McLaren were put into quarantine.[34]

All support category events were also cancelled. These had conducted practice and qualifying sessions on the Thursday, along with a singular race for the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia series. A two-seater Minardi also performed some demonstration runs early on the Friday morning.[35][36]

Attempt to reschedule

Shortly after the cancellation, organisers announced that they planned to reschedule the race for later in the year. Several more Grands Prix were cancelled or postponed and the start of the championship delayed until July. A new calendar with eight races was eventually published, but the Australian Grand Prix was not included; however, Liberty Media announced that they intended to hold as many as fifteen races. In June 2020, federal tourism minister Simon Birmingham announced that the Australian government expected that the country's borders would be closed to international travel until 2021.[37]

Notes
  1. There were 22 Grands Prix included in the 2020 calendar. However, several Grands Prix have been postponed or cancelled.[1]
  2. The Australian government introduced a travel ban for Italy on 11 March, after teams and their personnel had left the country for Melbourne.[24]
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References
  1. "Coronavirus fears force the postponement of the F1 Grand Prix in China in April". abc.net.au. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 13 February 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  2. "Australia". formula1.com. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  3. Keilloh, Graham (12 February 2020). "The races that never happened: F1's cancelled grands prix". Motor Sport Magazine. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  4. "Bahrain Grand Prix off after anti-government protest". BBC Sport. 21 February 2011. Archived from the original on 24 February 2011. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
  5. "Valtteri Bottas wins Australian GP after Lewis Hamilton overtake". BBC Sport. 17 March 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  6. "Record-breaking 22 race F1 calendar set for 2020". formula1.com. 29 August 2019. Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  7. "2020 Australian Grand Prix – Entry List" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 12 March 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  8. Mitchell, Scott (16 October 2019). "Toro Rosso's name change approved for 2020 Formula 1 season". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Archived from the original on 16 October 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  9. "Esteban Ocon joins Renault F1 Team". renaultsport.com. Renault Sport. 29 August 2019. Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  10. "Latifi to Williams for 2020: F2 racer replaces Kubica". formula1.com. 28 November 2019. Archived from the original on 28 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  11. Matteo Senatore (9 March 2020). "Ferrari, niente Mission Winnow a Melbourne". formulapassion.it (in Italian). Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  12. Malsher, David. "Sebring WEC round cancelled after US imposes Europe travel ban". Autosport.com.
  13. Duncan, Lewis. "Qatar MotoGP race cancelled due to coronavirus". Autosport.com. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  14. "WTCR's April opener cancelled due to coronavirus". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  15. "WTCR RACE OF HUNGARY STATEMENT". Federation Internationale de l'Automobile. 13 March 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  16. Kalinauckas, Alex (2 February 2020). "Formula E postpones China race amid virus outbreak". motorsport.com. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  17. "Rally Argentina postponed due to coronavirus pandemic". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  18. Klein, Jamie. "Coronavirus postpones Super Formula season-opener". Autosport.com. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  19. "Official Statement From INDYCAR". IndyCar.com. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  20. "Australian GP boss reaffirms 'all systems go' for F1 race". 2 March 2020. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  21. Noble, Jonathan. "Ferrari wants assurances over coronavirus from F1 before travel". Autosport.com. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  22. Noble, Jonathan. "Tost: Unfair if Australia goes ahead without all F1 teams". Autosport.com. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  23. "South Korea added to Australia's coronavirus travel ban list, restrictions for travellers from Italy". www.abc.net.au. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  24. "Italy added to Australia's coronavirus travel ban alongside China, Iran, South Korea". www.abc.net.au. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  25. "F1 would not race if team not allowed into country". 3 March 2020. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  26. "F1 to limit driver-fan contact amid coronavirus". www.speedcafe.com. 10 March 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  27. "Formula One team members quarantined due to coronavirus fears at Australian Grand Prix". www.abc.net.au.
  28. "Haas adopting wait and see approach on coronavirus results". 12 March 2020.
  29. Collantine, Keith (12 March 2020). "Mclaren pulls out of Australian Grand Prix". RaceFans. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  30. "Photographer latest to go into self-isolation at Australian GP". speedcafe.com. 12 March 2020.
  31. Leeuwen, Jonathan Noble, Alex Kalinauckas, Andrew van. "Hamilton: F1 decision to hold Australian Grand Prix "shocking"". Autosport.com.
  32. "Formula 1, FIA and AGPC announce cancellation of the 2020 Australian Grand Prix | Formula 1®". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  33. Cooper, Adam (12 March 2020). "Three F1 teams were willing to race in cancelled Australian Grand Prix". Autosport.com. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  34. Smith, Luke (13 March 2020). "14 more McLaren F1 staff quarantined after coronavirus case contact". Autosport.com. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  35. 2020 Track Schedule Australian Grand Prix
  36. Australian Grand Prix Cancelled SEN 1116 13 March 2020
  37. Macmillan, Jade (17 June 2020). "Australian borders likely to stay closed until next year, Tourism Minister says". abc.net.au. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
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