Horner found withdrawal McLaren 'knee-jerk': "One positive case among thousands"

The Grand Prix of Australia is now almost two months behind us. Formula 1 was about to start their new season in Melbourne, when an employee at McLaren was positive on COVID-19. In the night from Thursday to Friday the decision was made not to drive.

It was a decision that Red Bull Racing in particular did not agree with. According to that team, Formula 1 could just as well start the race weekend. They were already present at Albert Park anyway and to cancel the party after one positive test was an exaggeration. That is still Christian Horner's opinion.

"At the time, it all felt rather knee-jerk, certainly without knowing all the facts as this was one positive case from thousands of people working in the paddock", Horner says in his column on redbull.com. "Het was McLaren's beslissing om zich terug te trekken, waar ze gezien de omstandigheden alle recht toe hadden, maar er staat niets in de regels dat als het ene team zich terugtrekt, de anderen hetzelfde moeten doen.”

Mercedes changes it's mind

It was McLaren’s decision to pull-out which they had every right to do given the circumstances but there is nothing in the rules that says if one team withdraws, the others have to do the same. Given the guidance at the time and the fact that other sporting events were taking place in Australia the same weekend, I pushed to run.

In the end this didn't happen. Although the votes for whether or not to continue the event were initially evenly divided, Mercedes changed its mind at the last moment. Toto Wolff wanted to drive, but was whistled back that night by the management in Stuttgart.