Australian Grand Prix set to be postponed due to COVID-19

The Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne is expected to be postponed from its opening season slot to later this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a tightening of local quarantine rules.

Tickets for the March 21 race at Albert Park have yet to go on sale.

A Formula 1 spokesperson, asked on Monday about media reports of a likely postponement, said the sport was looking forward to racing again in March.

He did not say where, with the Bahrain Grand Prix also scheduled for March.

“In 2020 we have proven that we can safely resume racing and achieved what many thought was impossible in March,” he said. “We have established our 2021 schedule and look forward to the return of F1 in March of this year.”

Local organizers in Melbourne were not immediately available for comment, but according to various reports a postponement, rather than a cancellation for the second year in a row, would likely be announced later in January.

The construction of fences and stands around the temporary road circuit would normally start at the end of January.

Last year’s Australian Grand Prix was called off, just hours before the start of the first tests at the Albert Park street circuit, when a member of the McLaren team tested positive for the virus.

The season finally began in Austria in July, with the schedule heavily postponed and reduced from an original record of 22 races to 17 in Europe and the Middle East.

The Bahrain circuit of Sakhir, which is scheduled to host the second round on March 28, ended up hosting two races in late November and early December.

Crews, drivers and traveling media had to test negative before traveling and again on arrival, with a short quarantine until the results were known.

Seven-time British world champion Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton missed the second race in Sakhir after testing positive for the virus.

Melbourne would imply a much longer mandatory isolation period.

Hundreds of top tennis players, who are expected to arrive in Melbourne in mid-January, will have to spend 14 days in quarantine before the Australian Open from February 8-21.

Seven of Formula 1’s 10 teams are based in England, where cases are increasing due to a new, highly contagious variant of the coronavirus. Many countries have closed their borders to British travelers.