F1 News & Discussions > General F1 Discussion
No Aussie GP
Andy B:
Announced today in Aussie the 2021 GP is off due to the current pandemic.
I cannot say that I am surprised several states here are struggling to become COVID free and I should have been home on the 1st and now not flying till the 10th.
Alianora La Canta:
Australia's done a better job than the UK of managing COVID, and if keeping F1 out helps it to keep secure until mass vaccination is possible, then I approve.
A lot of F1 staff are having severe problems already with keeping F1's chosen schedule, so keeping the current schedule of 23 races wouldn be a bad idea. The trouble is that so many of F1's races are in doubt that due to the 15-race TV contract, it may have to. I give you:
- All the EU races after Hungary [Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, any post-July substitution in the EU] - low-to-medium risk (the EU is threatening to treat the UK's actions as deliberate breach of the agreement made in November, which would entitle it to prevent British movement in the EU altogether. Given the UK's response and its COVID conduct, the risk increases the further into the season we go).
- Turkey - high-risk - UK red list prevents people from going there.
- Japan - high-risk - everything except the Olympics is in the process of being cancelled, as far as sporting competition goes.
- United States - medium-risk - the UK government has the right to put regions on the red list, not just countries, and Texas isn't making much progress towards vaccination-based immunity, rendering it vulnerable to, among other places...
- Mexico - high-risk - COVID is rife and it is unlikely the situation will be resolved in time.
- Brazil - high-risk - ditto
- Bahrain [potentially two races as it's one of the candidates for replacement] - high-risk - UK red list
- UAE [Abu Dhabi] - high-risk - UK red list
That's 6 races at high risk of not happening, at least 7-8 at medium risk of not happening and 10 at some risk of not occurring, out of 14 - not counting races unexpectedly lost to the Delta variant (I'd chalked Australia up as one, because losing the previous triple-header would have given time for quarantine). Note that we need another 6 races, out of 14, to meet TV obligations. Which Liberty swore it would provide. (It also told investors it would definitely get at least 20 races this season, which would require a miracle at this point).
So, despite the fact that the mechanics are struggling with the workload already (according to some of the drivers and journalists), expect Liberty to continue to try to shoehorn as many races as possible into the 2021 calendar to meet its own ends.
John S:
Alia I see you're outlining a worst case scenario, however if F1 can get all races in Europe (incl Russia) done by end Sept then they will satisfy the TV contracts.
I've not seen, or heard, any rumblings about Hungary, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy or Russia not allowing races to go ahead - has anyone else? In fact if Max is still top, or near top, and the EU tries to kill the Dutch GP I feel there may be an insurrection, similar to mass arrival at Capital hill in US, at Brussels base of EU Commission. ;)
Hard to think that the Middle East back to back races at end of season wont happen, if British & Italian teams have to quarantine after, in home countries, it will be of no account really as it's season end.
Similar could happen with US & Mexico so long as border between 2 countries not shut, there'd be time to quarantine before the mid East races.
That'll make 17 races (or 19 if N America is on), anymore will be a bonus. Shareholders expecting 20 will happily accept 17 with such worldwide border and quarantine regulations this year.
Andy B:
I think most countries would do well controlling Covid but as an example when the NSW lockdown started a group of Aussies decided to have a lockdown party and they are now contributing to the Covid numbers.
While people fail to comply with the rules then getting it under control anywhere is an issue.
I'm flying Darwin to Melbourne in the early hours of Saturday and by the end of the day hope to be back in NZ but to do this I have had to fill out documentation to prove I'm safe to travel. I have had one Covid test which was negative and will be having a Pre-departure test tomorrow to comply with NZ Gov regulations too.
If this is how the airlines and countries will be then traveling abroad will not be an easy process anymore.
Oh! I should have been home on the 1st July.
Alianora La Canta:
--- Quote from: John S on July 06, 2021, 02:04:00 PM ---Alia I see you're outlining a worst case scenario, however if F1 can get all races in Europe (incl Russia) done by end Sept then they will satisfy the TV contracts.
I've not seen, or heard, any rumblings about Hungary, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy or Russia not allowing races to go ahead - has anyone else? In fact if Max is still top, or near top, and the EU tries to kill the Dutch GP I feel there may be an insurrection, similar to mass arrival at Capital hill in US, at Brussels base of EU Commission. ;)
Hard to think that the Middle East back to back races at end of season wont happen, if British & Italian teams have to quarantine after, in home countries, it will be of no account really as it's season end.
Similar could happen with US & Mexico so long as border between 2 countries not shut, there'd be time to quarantine before the mid East races.
That'll make 17 races (or 19 if N America is on), anymore will be a bonus. Shareholders expecting 20 will happily accept 17 with such worldwide border and quarantine regulations this year.
--- End quote ---
That's because it's the EU doing the rumbling, rather than consituent countries. (Note that there is not cross-EU consensus, as the German and Greek positions demonstrate, hence why the risk is low-to-medium and not high). If the EU requires British people to be blocked, then all the individual venues can do is comply - but the EU would have to convince the countries to put in the ban before it can happen in the first place.
Turkey would require the UK to actively change its position in order to happen. At this stage, the other proposed European races would not. Same applies to Brazil, Bahrain and UAE (Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, is a place to which British people can travel for work). By "not allowed", I mean that unless it's for "essential purposes" (elite sports don't count even though they're exempt from some other aspects of the UK COVID law), UK people travelling to a red list country is illegal, punishable by fines of up to £10,000 each - and insurance for non-essential purposes (again, elite sport is deemed non-essential) doesn't cover red list, which means the UK teams couldn't comply with the FIA requirement to be insured for anything that might go wrong at the track. (I think the Italian teams could get insurance but might face legal consequences on their return, depending on whether the FIA felt it was worth running the championship round for 3 teams - Alfa Romeo, being Swiss, I think is free to go where it wants if it quarantines afterwards).
That's why Turkey got dropped when the UK put it on its red list. That's why it's likely to get dropped again.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version