F1 News

Australian GP organiser: The word ‘cancellation’ was used deliberately.

Australian GP organiser: "The word ‘cancellation’ was used deliberately."

14-03-2020 14:53

At the last minute, the Australian Grand Prix was cancelled. Formula 1 left it so late that fans had started to queue up outside the Albert Park circuit. Eventually, it was cancelled. In the following 24 hours, the Grands Prix of Bahrain and Vietnam, which were postponed. Andrew Westcott, CEO of the Australian GP, ​​explains to RACER, among others, why this word was used. 

“It’s important we used the word ‘cancellation’ because of the imminency of the timing of it. Important to make sure that the fans in Melbourne at the gate knew that it wasn’t a postponement for some period of hours or days: the word ‘cancellation’ was used deliberately," Westcott said. 

The fact that the Grand Prix was 'cancelled' does not mean that the organisers have given up hope to catch up with the event sometime this year. 

“In F1 you never say never. We have been working on the here and now with Chase (Carey), the FIA and F1, and we will work though matters but we haven’t started thinking about future staging or anything like that but it will happen in the fullness of time.”

Obstacles

The Albert Park Circuit is in the streets of Melbourne and that presents a challenge. Not only do they need to check the calendars, they need to find a time to build the track as they can't leave it in place for long.