2021

[E.B]

Originally Posted by bella

might be wrong but australia either has a gentlemans agreement or a contract to be the first, so it goes both ways.

Yes, I think it is a Gentleman's agreement, because in 2006 we waived the right to first race in Melbourne due to a clash with the opening round date with the running of the Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne that year. I remember many things changed for the CG's, from the date of Daylight Saving changing to Standard Time through to school termtime / holidays to coincide with the games. (Bahrain opened the season that year with Aus slotting in after Malaysia ie Aus and Bahrain swapped their usual race weekends)

In fact IIRC we almost had to move the next year following due to the (World?) Swimming / Diving Championships which also originally clashed. One of the Swimming venues used was the Albert Park Swimming Complex just a stone throw from the race track. They postponed the Swimming championships to later in the year to give the GP its traditional March slot back.

[Alan52]

Originally Posted by S griffin

I remember we had an Australian GP at the end of 95 then one immediately after at the beginning of 96. Different venues I know, but still. No reason why they can't have it last again

Different venues and organisers/governments.Adelaide had always been last race.Melbourne wanted March dates to fit in with their events calendar.

[Kato]

Well amongst the mess of this year we all survived not having the Albert Park Round, me included. For context it - Albert Park - is 3,700 klms away from my humble abode by the beach. I have attended five times and would go again, but, some things like pandemics and their management are more important.

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

So Tennis open in Australia put back already. Must put Opening GP in Aus in doubt .....Australian Government insisting on 2 weeks quarantine- easy for a tennis player not so easy for an F1 Team....

Waffle about rescheduling to later in the year. When will people stop trying to save face and just be realistic? It was never going happen in March....

[Casper]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

Waffle about rescheduling to later in the year. When will people stop trying to save face and just be realistic? It was never going happen in March....

It would not be a surprise if the event never happened again due to domestic politics and opposition from some local groups.

[chillibowl]

is it about saving face or is it about honoring payments and contracts?

in one of these threads and in early covid there was a conversation about the legal necessities about who canceled what, what insurance would or could cover, and how FOM would go about offering refunds.

i would imagine the logic still exists...if a scheduled event is canceled because of a government order for example, then there may special remunerations or subsidies to be accessed by those involved, there may be insurance, FOM may have the rights to hold onto deposits for the following season.

given that they just ran a successful globe spanning season during a pandemic, i am included to think they know what they are doing.

[S griffin]

I hope we don’t see an end to the Aussie GP. We know how much they love their motorsport down under, so hopefully there will be enough interest to keep the event going

[chavez]

Originally Posted by Casper

It would not be a surprise if the event never happened again due to domestic politics and opposition from some local groups.

I'd suggest the general public apathy towards the event will play a role.

Unlike the Australian Open Tennis which appears at least to have some public support, the Grand Prix has little.

It doesn't help that while after protracted negotiation the world's best tennis players agreed to the quarantine rules, Formula One is unable to make this work.

[bella]

not sure that's true, f1's made it work from imola to abu dhabi within their own structure, the entire paddock is essentially quarantined for the duration of the stay and they have their own testing structure that keeps on top of trackside outbreaks...

that said, it's obviously not going to happen until later in the year at the earliest.

[Dixie Flatline]

Originally Posted by Casper

It would not be a surprise if the event never happened again due to domestic politics and opposition from some local groups.

As far as I'm aware, the State Government, regardless of the party in power (either the conservative Liberals or the centre left Labor Party), has supported the Australian Grand Prix being at Albert Park ever since Kennett and Walker poached the race from Adelaide. Not sure what domestic politics to which you're referring.

Provided that there is no force majeure event like a global pandemic, I'm positive the State Government would support and do everything it could to stage the Grand Prix.

Yes, there is some opposition to the race, mostly from greens and local people who have their lives interrupted by the shutdowns to the local streets for a few weeks, but they have gone on ever since the race came to Melbourne and they haven't stopped the race yet.

[Tourer]

Bit of a to-do going on here in Melbourne at the moment around the hotel that all the tennis players are meant to be using to "quarantine" for the Australian Open. It has permanent (wealthy) residents, with some talk of legal challenges by them. Interesting that virtually all the public reaction to the story seems to follow the "cancel the event" path.

There's also a couple of speculative local articles floating around that the Oz Grand Prix postponement announcement is due to happen in the next day or two. Makes sense - to me, crunch time has always been early January as that is when the build starts and money starts being spent.

I doubt very much that "postponement" will mean anything other than "cancellation" for 2021. For any sport, it's very hard to see a way to still fly around the world to different continents and genuinely stay Covid safe. Given that it'll take a while for vaccines to roll out all around and we don't (yet) really know how much difference vaccines will make to contagion, it seems a fair bet to me that 2021 could well look quite similar to 2020 in the motorsport world and particularly so for F1, which was able to deliver a season based largely in Europe.

[Skam85]

Originally Posted by Dixie Flatline

As far as I'm aware, the State Government, regardless of the party in power (either the conservative Liberals or the centre left Labor Party), has supported the Australian Grand Prix being at Albert Park ever since Kennett and Walker poached the race from Adelaide. Not sure what domestic politics to which you're referring.

Provided that there is no force majeure event like a global pandemic, I'm positive the State Government would support and do everything it could to stage the Grand Prix.

Yes, there is some opposition to the race, mostly from greens and local people who have their lives interrupted by the shutdowns to the local streets for a few weeks, but they have gone on ever since the race came to Melbourne and they haven't stopped the race yet.

Exactly.

The Aus GP is going nowhere, despite any sky is falling assertions otherwise.

Not only is F1 actually increasing in popularity in Aus thanks to Drive to Survive, Ricciardo's social media and likeability, there's also the fact it is contracted for another four races at least after this year.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

Waffle about rescheduling to later in the year. When will people stop trying to save face and just be realistic? It was never going happen in March....

It reminds me of last year when they said they’d have between 15-18 races. Just to save face and keep the shareholders happy. Pathetic really. Everyone knew they’d never manage it.

No they should continue to talk like they still want it and can do it. Aim high, you never know what they might achieve. It is of no harm to say it might still happen at this time. It does to hurt to simply say no it’s off and give up now. Cancel it later when there really is no option.

[Casper]

This is today's thinking in Australia and the UK is not flavour of the month at all

https://www.smh.com.au/national/coro...q8.html#p51pmp


The event if being held at a race track would still have plenty of time for any decision making but a road course such as this requires decisions several months in advance. The chances of it being held later in the year are somewhere between zero and none.

[Adam43]

UK isn’t the flavor of the month in the UK!

I agree, it’s unlikely. Probably very. But no point in giving up. If they can find a potential slot later then work to the deadline for that.

[Tourer]

Story here with statement from Grand Prix Corporation re AGP. Doesn't really say anything other than more info will come out later.

Reading between the lines though, if it was definitely on, they'd be saying so as they need to sell tickets. Sounds like it's doubtful and all parties are working out if there's a way of scheduling it differently or if it needs to be left alone for 2021. Given the experience of 2020, there are a series of contracts between different parties that cross over each other and make it all somewhat complex to resolve and get timing right.

[sizzle]

Where does Englands national lock down leave the F1 teams for the next six weeks?

[peebee2]

The lockdown doesn’t apply to work, only social mixing.

[chavez]

Originally Posted by Tourer

Story here with statement from Grand Prix Corporation re AGP. Doesn't really say anything other than more info will come out later.

Reading between the lines though, if it was definitely on, they'd be saying so as they need to sell tickets. Sounds like it's doubtful and all parties are working out if there's a way of scheduling it differently or if it needs to be left alone for 2021. Given the experience of 2020, there are a series of contracts between different parties that cross over each other and make it all somewhat complex to resolve and get timing right.

Parties are working on understanding who pays for what when it is inevitably cancelled.

While quarantine remains a hurdle between the Grand Prix Corporation, the State Government and Liberty, other issues such as crowd control for general admission areas and very limited corporate facilities are major stumbling blocks.

[Skam85]

General Admission would almost certainly be non-existent if the GP went ahead here.

It would be grandstand only I'd say.

[Casper]

Originally Posted by Skam85

General Admission would almost certainly be non-existent if the GP went ahead here.

It would be grandstand only I'd say.

While I don't live in Melbourne I have to ask if you think grandstand seating would be possible. It would seem that not having GA the event would not be worth running at all. One thing that needs pointing out is that all entry into Oz is through 14 day quarantine and that costs $3000 AUD per head and from all reports is not exactly a pleasant experience. I can understand the reluctance to have to do that for every person involved in the running of the event who has to come here. You can bet that Brawn and Carey would not want to be tied up in that scenario.

[bella]

like i said before, f1 from (iirc) imola onwards last year was confined to hotels anyway. at abu dhabi they were completely isolated from the community via hotels and hotels for the staff working in the hotels. they have a decent testing regime of their own.

we aren’t talking about the usual way f1 travels. they’re pretty much quarantined anyway. if the aus government looked at that properly they’d understand. maybe they already do.

what melbourne has to figure out is if building the gp is worth it for an event where they’d either have to be grandstand only or sell squares of space on the grass so people could distance. i’m guessing not. the other street races decided against it last year.

[Lancsbreaker]

The Times today reports that Abu Dhabi is being prepared to move forward to fill the Melbourne date. No decision yet, but I'd be surprised if the Australian GP does go ahead......at least on the planned date.

[S griffin]

Oh good. It means that we can get Abu Dhabi out of the way ASAP

[chillibowl]

Prepared to move forward or prepared to host both the opener and closer?