Let’s get this out of the way first, I’ve been a massive Formula 1 fan for a over a decade and was really looking forward to Lewis Hamilton kick off his season with another win at the 2020 Australian Grand Prix despite the spectre of the coronavirus looming over the entire event.
Listen to the GOAT team break the whole thing down on the latest ep of It’s Been A Big Day For…below:
But over the course of 12 hours, the excitement for the Australian Grand Prix has quickly turned into incredulity and disappointment because of all the drama leading up to the event inevitably getting cancelled.
Things were already dicey well before the Australian Grand Prix weekend due to a coronavirus outbreak in Italy, where Ferrari are based. Yet despite (justified) fears of spreading the disease, the team still made it into Australia in time for the race (a few days before the a travel ban for Italy was implemented coincidentally).
Then on the eve of the Formula 1 race, things went immediately went to DEFCON 5 when a Mclaren team member tested positive for the coronavirus and the entire team pulled out due to safety concerns.
You’d think that the Australian Grand Prix would be cancelled then and there since one of the major drawcards of the weekend had bailed and having the coronavirus in the F1 paddock is a recipe for it spreading like wildfire among all those at the venue given how well over 300,000 people attend the race every year.
Instead, the official word prior to the cancellation of the event is that the Formula 1 event was still going on as per normal yet no spectators are allowed into the venue. What the actual ****?
This went from dicey to sheer recklessness in a very short amount of time and delaying the cancellation of the Australian Grand Prix event is just irresponsible.
In the span of a few hours, what was an already-tense Formula 1 weekend has quickly descended into a farce that saw tense behind-the-scenes politics, F1 journos and figures not knowing what was going on, and drivers saying “f*** this” and leaving the country without a second thought to what happens to the race.
Holding a Formula 1 race behind closed doors isn’t unprecedented as the upcoming 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix plan on doing the same. The difference is that this measure was implemented at the last minute by the Australian Grand Prix as a reaction to the coronavirus rather than a proactive step.
The whole event should’ve been cancelled ahead of time rather than given the go ahead in the first place due to the coronavirus warnings that were evident well ahead of time. By cancelling at the last possible moment despite all the signs is just a massive middle finger to all the fans who spent a heap of money for a weekend in Melbourne and all the health experts who repeatedly warned everyone that it was bad idea from the very start.
Hell, the Australian Grand Prix organisers could’ve still emerged from this car wreck with only a bit of egg on their face had they cancelled the event when Mclaren pulled out after their team member tested positive for coronavirus, yet they dragged it on longer than neccessary.
At the end of the day, it all boils down to money (and boy is there a lot of it at stake with the Australian Grand Prix) and all the relevant parties – Formula 1, the FIA (Formula 1’s governing body), the event organisers, and the local government – refusing to take responsibility (and the bill) for cancelling the event. There’s a lot more at risk here than a Formula 1 race and money.
As Lewis Hamilton said ahead of the event prior to its cancellation due to the coronavirus: cash is king and it is “shocking” Formula 1 was still going ahead while the rest of the world is reacting.
I’ve seen some absolutely insane things go down in the world of Formula 1 over the last decade, yet this is the first time I’ve been so disappointed with the Australian Grand Prix and the governing body’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Things shouldn’t have been pushed as far as it did, and yet it still happened.
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