Australia PM admits: Melbourne Grand Prix again uncertain

It will not be the first nor the last time that the 2021 Formula 1 calendar has to be changed. After the Formula 1 event in Melbourne was moved from the beginning to the end of the calendar due to the coronavirus, there is again uncertainty about the Grand Prix weekend.

The event, scheduled for November pales into insignificance compared to the still high risk surrounding it, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison notes opposite Motorsport Week: "The pandemic is ranging, morphing, every day. On the medical advice, we have now it is not safe to take those paths [to open up]. I’m not going to take risks with Australians’ lives. I’m not going to do that."

Australia still maintains a relatively strict border closure, which is expected to continue into 2022. These travel restrictions were part of the reasoning behind moving the event earlier this year, and so maintaining them will logically cause problems again.

Nevertheless, Morrison also knows that the strict measures in his country can prepare Melbourne well for such an event, a fact which makes him not yet willing to definitively rule out the Grand Prix in November. Morrison: "The risk profile here is very different, but those events are still some time away."