Formula 1 2021: season-opening Australian GP to be postponed

The Australian GP was scheduled to open the 2021 season on March 21, but strict quarantine restrictions mean the race is likely to be postponed until later in the year; The Bahrain GP will become the first race on March 28

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Sky Sports News reporter Craig Slater says the Formula 1 season-opening Australian Grand Prix in March will be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic

The 2021 Formula 1 season is unlikely to start with the Australian GP as planned, and the scheduled opening race will be postponed.

After a 2020 campaign interrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Albert Park Australian GP, ​​which was canceled last year, was due to start a record 23-race season in 2021 on March 21.

But Sky sports understands that it will now be postponed until the end of the year due to new and strict quarantine restrictions in Melbourne.

The Bahrain GP, ​​scheduled for March 28, is set to replace Australia as the season opener.

Melbourne is gearing up to host its first major international event in nearly a year in February with the Australian Open tennis tournament, and the Victorian government has established a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all staff.

It is believed that F1 would be subject to the same rules, and a Grand Prix would not be viable under those circumstances.

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A two-week quarantine for F1 personnel would likely require them to travel three weeks prior to the race date, and F1’s only three-day pre-season test is scheduled for March 2-4.

An official postponement seems inevitable, which means that the Bahrain GP is likely to open the campaign. The Sakhir Circuit in Bahrain has successfully hosted two of the last three races of 2020.

“It has not been postponed yet, and I do not expect an official announcement today or in the next few days,” he said. Sky Sports News’ Craig Slater. “But a source has told me that it is impossible for it to take place under the current Covid restrictions in place in Australia.”

A statement from F1 added: “In 2020 we demonstrated that we could safely get back to racing and delivered what many thought was impossible in March.

“We have set our 2021 calendar and look forward to the return of F1 in March this year.”

What would the postponement mean for the F1 2021 calendar?

After somehow hitting a 17-race schedule from July to December last year, an interrupted start to the 2021 season is the last thing F1 would have wanted, and the sport confirmed Australia as the season opener just a few years ago. weeks.

F1 is believed to have been confident that the race would be possible in March due to the local government’s handling of the pandemic so far, and was relying on its own biosphere-based protocols that worked so well in 2020.

But a two-week quarantine wouldn’t be feasible for any of its 23 races – the most in an F1 season in the sport’s history, given the number of traveling personnel – around 1,500.

The Melbourne event was canceled last year just before Friday’s practice, prompting a series of postponements and cancellations, although F1 is confident it will not be repeated in 2021.

A bigger concern is how they would fit into a rescheduled Australian GP on an already congested 2021 schedule.

F1 will probably have to wait until after the August summer break due to the weather in Australia. The second half of the season begins with two triple headers: the first in Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy, followed by another in Russia, Singapore and Japan, separated by a bye week.

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A free weekend follows in October before back-to-back races in the United States and Mexico, with Brazil fifteen days later on November 14. A double title is then established in the Middle East to conclude the campaign with races in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. on November 28 and December 5.

There is also a 2021 question mark around the fourth race, or the third race if Australia is postponed, of the season with the replacement of Vietnam yet to be confirmed.

Imola is the current favorite to fill the April 25 spot on the calendar.

A start to the season for Sakhir could also result in the preseason tests, currently scheduled for Barcelona, ​​moving to Bahrain to help with travel problems. It could also be delayed closer to the March 28 race date.