As expected, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation has confirmed that neither event will take place in the last quarter of this year as planned.
The move comes after talks with state and federal health authorities failed over how to allow teams to avoid Australia’s strict border rule.
To bring the event back, the idea of a biosphere was floated, at least for the Albert Park race, but that idea fell through.
Allowing staff to avoid quarantine in hotels would have been difficult given the recent cap on new arrivals in the country in response to the highly transmissible Delta strain of COVID-19 .
Both avoiding quarantine and using the supervised hotel system would have been a tough sell on the PR front as well, given that many Australians are still unable to return home.
“We understand that this is not the news that MotoGP and Formula 1 fans wanted to hear,” AGPC CEO Andrew Westacott said.
I would like to extend my thanks to the Victorian Government, Formula 1 and Dorna Sports for their unwavering resilience and support during this difficult period, and for their continued commitment to these two great events.”
“There will certainly be ongoing challenges with COVID-19, but I want to reassure fans that while there is sadness and disappointment among our wonderful AGPC staff, there is tenacity and determination to ensure that upcoming MotoGP and Formula 1 races at the track updated Albert Park are great showcases of how we do things in Victoria.
Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali reiterated the category’s desire to hold 23 races this year despite this latest cancellation.
“While it is disappointing that we will not be racing in Australia this season, we are confident we can deliver a 23-race season in 2021 and we have a number of options we can take forward to replace the place vacated by the Australian Grand Prix,” he said. .
“We will be working out the details of those options in the coming weeks and will provide further updates once those discussions have concluded.”
Despite the slow start to its vaccination program, Australia hopes to have enough people vaccinated by the end of the year to start opening its borders.
