The Red Bull F1 team was hugely disappointed that the Australian Grand Prix is not going ahead. Team principal Christian Horner confessed that the cancellation is rather “frustrating” to stomach.
Evidently, the COVID-19 outbreak in the paddock was serious enough to ring the FIA’s alarm bells. As a result, F1 called off the season-opener, especially after a McLaren employee contracted the flu-like disease.
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The Australian Grand Prix was officially called off after a meeting between teams and F1 officials. Frustratingly for Red Bull, the decision came less than two hours before free practice was scheduled to begin.
“It’s obviously frustrating,” Horner said. “The situation globally is changing hour-by-hour and day-by-day.
“When we arrived in Australia the intention was to go racing but unfortunately following the positive test of a person within the paddock the decision was made to cancel the event. Ultimately the safety and wellbeing of staff, the fans and the paddock is hugely important.”
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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner
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Admittedly, Red Bull was one of four teams in favour of racing in Australia. Initially, both teams were in a deadlock at 4-4, with Haas and Williams abstaining. However, one call from Daimler boss Ola Kallenius was enough for Mercedes to change sides.
They wrote a letter to F1 and the FIA, requesting a cancellation of the event. This triggered a chain of events, ultimately leading to the Australian GP’s cancellation this weekend.
According to the Red Bull boss, the local health authorities green-lit the event, and so did the FIA. He believed that many teams wanted to run on Friday and see how the situation pans out before making a final decision.
Furthermore, F1 even canned upcoming races in Bahrain and Vietnam. China was already out of question, seeing as the virus originated from there.
In light of this, the Dutch and Spanish grands prix are highly doubtful. Reportedly, Formula One is aiming to commence the 2020 Formula One season in late may. The suggestion actually came from Formula One. Meanwhile, the FIA pitched a date of early to mid-May
