Official 2020 Australian Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

[Gazzab]

TheDeuce said:

Gazzab said:

I am astonished that they haven’t already cancelled the Australian GP. Whilst everyone would rather normality continued, lots of other global events have been cancelled eg world mobile congress. I guess the difference here is that the participants have significant commercial pressures.

Also for Melbourne (Victoria) the GP is a fundamental part of their economy, it's huge for them.

However, the awkward truth is that the authorities have put in place bans on casual visitors from certain countries, including Italy... People with specific work/purpose will still be allowed entry but will be subject to a 14 day quarantine. So how do Ferrari, Alfa and pirelli get to the track?? There is already less than 14 days before FP1.

As it happens Ferrari have held part of their normal engineer team back in Italy instead of bringing them to Barcelona - that could be part of a token quarantine effort ahead of travel, or it's even possible they're in Australia already. Whatever their solution is for Melbourne, it's already clear that the travel bans are going to keep coming and will doubtless screw up a number of scheduled GP's. The question is, how many?

I assume that the legal teams will only allow F1to cancel an event and therefore satisfy the insurers rules by being forced to cancel by WHO, governments etc.

[Mr Pointy]

Mr Dendrite said:

Blimey it is only two weeks away, I’m losing it...

Hmm... Time to sort out how I'm going to get access to watch the races this year.

[TheDeuce]

Gazzab said:

I assume that the legal teams will only allow F1to cancel an event and therefore satisfy the insurers rules by being forced to cancel by WHO, governments etc.

As with China, there was a pause between it being obvious it was impossible and the announcement actually being made. During the pause I've no doubt everyone's lawyers and insurers were wrangling over who makes the final call.

[TheDeuce]

Interesting side story - Geneva motor show has been cancelled! An event I've worked at for years...

The (ultra conservative) Swiss have decided to outlaw gatherings of 1000+ people. Another worrying precedent as to how governments can scupper international events

[sparta6]

TheDeuce said:

Interesting side story - Geneva motor show has been cancelled! An event I've worked at for years...

The (ultra conservative) Swiss have decided to outlaw gatherings of 1000+ people. Another worrying precedent as to how governments can scupper international events

Smart and clean people those Swiss.

Prevention better than cure

[TheDeuce]

sparta6 said:

TheDeuce said:

Interesting side story - Geneva motor show has been cancelled! An event I've worked at for years...

The (ultra conservative) Swiss have decided to outlaw gatherings of 1000+ people. Another worrying precedent as to how governments can scupper international events

Smart and clean people those Swiss.

Prevention better than cure

Yea.. I don't blame them. As it happens the marque I do the motorshow stuff for pulled out of Geneva a couple of years back anyway, so I wasn't due to go this year. I've always enjoyed my time there though, everything 'just works' in Switzerland.

However, my sadness is that such cancellations start to set precedents which, although inevitable, will spread and lead to cancelled races. Also sensible, granted - yet sad all the same.

[The Moose]

I’m afraid, I don’t think Melbourne is going to go ahead. I really hope I’m wrong, but I just don’t see it happening.

[mart 63]

My wife has just messaged her niece, who's fiance works for ticketmaster in Australia. He's got us a couple of tickets in the Senna stand. He has just told us that the Victoria goverment have guaranteed the the race will go ahead.

[greygoose]

mart 63 said:

My wife has just messaged her niece, who's fiance works for ticketmaster in Australia. He's got us a couple of tickets in the Senna stand. He has just told us that the Victoria goverment have guaranteed the the race will go ahead.

A lot can change in a couple of weeks.

[The Vambo]

sparta6 said:

TheDeuce said:

Interesting side story - Geneva motor show has been cancelled! An event I've worked at for years...

The (ultra conservative) Swiss have decided to outlaw gatherings of 1000+ people. Another worrying precedent as to how governments can scupper international events

Smart and clean people those Swiss.

Prevention better than cure

Dubious morals though...

[Greeny]

They need to decide soon, teams are packing things up to be shipped next week as I type !

[HustleRussell]

Very excited for the start of the season. I will be away from home and drinking on the weekend though so it'll be a real challenge for me to watch live. Maybe the first re-run...

I think we're in for a good season. Plenty of potential for intrigue.

I reckon Ricciardo and Ocon in particular will be fireworks.

slipstream 1985 said:

my early prediction

1. mercedes
2. red bull

3. ferrari
4. tracing point

5. mclaren

6. renault
7. alpha tauri
8. alfa romeo

9. haas
10.williams

Gaps represent who they will likely be closest to.

This is pretty much as I was thinking as a general running order for the beginning of the season, however I don't think there will be much of a gap to speak of between Racing Point, Mclaren and Renault. Also I wouldn't be so sure of putting Haas down there with Williams, I have found it very hard to arrive at an order for 7th/8th/9th.

The season long performance of Racing Point is surely going to get averaged down by Stroll's poor qualifying performance so I don't think they're coming fourth in the constructors.

Renault may spring a surprise vs. Mclaren. The customer engine deal is ending so Renault may play dirty the way they did with Toro Rosso in 2017.

[pits]

The Moose said:

Session	Track Time	UK Time	Sky Coverage Starts	C4 Coverage	EST Time

RACE

16:10

06:10

Pitlane 04:10, Race 05:10

TBC

01:10

To clarify, is the race starting at 5:10 in the morning or 6:10 in the morning?

[LivingTheDream]

pits said:

The Moose said:

Session	Track Time	UK Time	Sky Coverage Starts	C4 Coverage	EST Time

RACE

16:10

06:10

Pitlane 04:10, Race 05:10

TBC

01:10

To clarify, is the race starting at 5:10 in the morning or 6:10 in the morning?

The race is at 6.10 start

Sky programme starts at 4.10 for 'Pitlane Live' as they call it. Then their race show starts at 5.10am

[SydneyBridge]

According to the sky schedule, they are on air at 3am and the race is at 5.10

[Paul_M3]

SydneyBridge said:

According to the sky schedule, they are on air at 3am and the race is at 5.10

Correct. The race is at 5:10am. It’s at 4:10pm local time.

[The Moose]

I'm sorry. Time zone maths fail

[The Moose]

I wonder if all the guys needed for Melbourne got out of Northern Italy in time...

[TheDeuce]

The Moose said:

I wonder if all the guys needed for Melbourne got out of Northern Italy in time...

I wonder if the Barcelona testing contingent even risked going back... In terms of travel bans it would be more practical to not return home. Ferrari have already said they're splitting the workforce to enable travel.

This season is starting to feel a little farcical. Ferrari might have shown themselves up in other ways recently but I do believe they'll bend over backwards to be at each GP no matter what. It's just... The GP's themselves might not happen.

[anonymous-user]

Alpha Tauri left early, some Ferrari people are there, some leave Sunday, some Monday.