Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix Under Threat as McLaren Withdraws

[DesertPenguin]

My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. 2020 is cancelled everyone, let's just pack up and go home. Then again, the teams shouldn't have been able to turn up in the first place. All sport is in jeopardy now, not just motorsport and it sucks. We are literally being held to ransom by this new virus, and people are panicking. I wanted to see the GP on Sunday as I've never done it before, but now it won't happen. All that hype for nothing.

I know how you feel man. This first race to really see where the teams are at after testing. No idea when we'll find out

 

[zzz_pt]

 

[andrea]

FIA has reached a settlement with corona virus. No more questions please.

 

[Siggesvag]

Maybe Codemasters F1 2020 becomes the official championship this year so the teams can work from home. I wonder what kind of game could be made if they had all the money the teams spend during a year and put into game-development.

 

[Famine]

We are literally being held to ransom by this new virus

We are? What's it demanding?

 

[baldgye]

We are? What's it demanding?

The removal of the Halo and the return of v10’s.... obviously

 

[Sick Cylinder]

The removal of the Halo and the return of v10’s.... obviously

Front engines, skinny tyres, no wings and beautifully controlled four wheel drifts please!

 

[TheElbows]

Banked wooden tracks!

 

[05XR8]

My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. 2020 is cancelled everyone, let's just pack up and go home. Then again, the teams shouldn't have been able to turn up in the first place. All sport is in jeopardy now, not just motorsport and it sucks. We are literally being held to ransom by this new virus, and people are panicking. I wanted to see the GP on Sunday as I've never done it before, but now it won't happen. All that hype for nothing.

Well, at least S5000 are running today.

 

[BrainsBush]

In stead of the race we can listen to this podcast. Have not listened myself yet. Will do this weekend

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/podcast-what-really-happened-melbourne/4747444/

==

Good alternative to watch:

 

[LeGeNd-1]

While I agree it's the right decision to cancel the event, I can't help but feel they should've seen this coming from a few weeks ago and avoided the last minute farce. Ross Brawn said in his interview on F1.com that the sea freight left 1 month ago. OK, so that one's unavoidable. But surely most of the team personnel, drivers and cars which go by air travel couldn't have arrived more than a week before the race and it was quite obvious the situation was going to escalate by then. Anyway, it is what it is. Sucks to not have any races until possibly mid year, but in the grand scheme of things watching cars go in circles is not really that important compared to what's happening in some regions in the world right now.

Here's a question for the maths nerds though: how much fuel has F1 cars saved by going hybrid in 2014 (counting all practice/quali/race sessions), and is it more or less than the amount wasted getting all the teams to Melbourne and back for nothing?

 

[BrainsBush]

While I agree it's the right decision to cancel the event, I can't help but feel they should've seen this coming from a few weeks ago and avoided the last minute farce. Ross Brawn said in his interview on F1.com that the sea freight left 1 month ago. OK, so that one's unavoidable. But surely most of the team personnel, drivers and cars which go by air travel couldn't have arrived more than a week before the race and it was quite obvious the situation was going to escalate by then. Anyway, it is what it is. Sucks to not have any races until possibly mid year, but in the grand scheme of things watching cars go in circles is not really that important compared to what's happening in some regions in the world right now.

Here's a question for the maths nerds though: how much fuel has F1 cars saved by going hybrid in 2014 (counting all practice/quali/race sessions), and is it more or less than the amount wasted getting all the teams to Melbourne and back for nothing?

At the end it all has to do with money/insurance. The one who pulled the trigger to cancel the race would have been 'responsible'. They all waited and waited. Teams already knew that their would be no F1 race. Now the state of Victoria made on the morning itself the decision and then for the FIA/FOM, track organisation and the teams it is a case of 'force majeure'.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Here's a question for the maths nerds though: how much fuel has F1 cars saved by going hybrid in 2014 (counting all practice/quali/race sessions), and is it more or less than the amount wasted getting all the teams to Melbourne and back for nothing?

Without knowing the answer I'd say the teams still drove/flew an enormous tonnage of people and equipment to every one of those races, I'm not sure it's worth calculating the "Melbourne offset"

 

[TheElbows]

Motorsports have almost zero environmental impact on anything. Compared to the billions of other motor vehicles in operation every day, motorsports vehicles don't even register. Someone did a study that showed that the Daytona 500 - including all of its sessions, the full race, and all the cars driven to the event by spectators did not equal one large commercial aircraft flying from New York to London. So yes, just flying the F1 equipment around is 99.99% of F1's environmental impact. Virtually zero is from running a couple dozen cars for a few hours each weekend.

"Environmental" approaches by motorsport are, and always have been about translating an appearance of environmental consideration to sponsors, consumers who are buying their commercial products, etc. Many major manufacturers will not participate in a motorsport than can't "spin" into normal commercial sales.

The first season or two of Formula E - the cars were charged using large diesel generators provided by the series...so...it's all a bit of a farce. It all makes business sense in the end (normally) as it's about what companies can sell, promote and say in a brochure, but actually pretending you're saving the environment by shaving off fuel spent on motorsports is nonsense.

Even if and when more motorsports translate to electric power...the damage will still be flying/shipping/transporting the entire motorsport operation around the globe. Flying 100+ personnel, shipping tires, replacement components, emergency spares by air, etc. It'll all simply be the "appearance" of environmental responsibility, etc. etc.