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First F1 race of the 2020 season cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns

Had you been up early like us to catch Free Practice 1 of the Australian Grand Prix, you would have found nothing.

That’s because late on Thursday evening, Formula 1 together with the FIA and the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, cancelled the race weekend.

The cancellation comes after McLaren announced that it would not participate in the race after a team member tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

“Following the confirmation that a member of the McLaren Racing Team has tested positive for COVID-19 and the team’s decision to withdraw from the Australian Grand Prix, Formula 1 and the FIA convened a meeting of the other nine team principals on Thursday evening. Those discussions concluded with a majority view of the teams that the race should not go ahead,” a joint statement read.

“Formula 1 and the FIA, with the full support of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation (AGPC) have therefore taken the decision that all Formula 1 activity for the Australian Grand Prix are cancelled,” the trio of organisations added.

This is not the first major sporting event to be cancelled due to COVID-19. The NBA in the US has suspended its current season until further notice, Italy’s Serie A played a few matches behind closed doors before the country suspended all sporting events until 3rd April.

The FIA has said that race fans who were to attend the Australian Grand Prix will receive a full refund.

It is unclear whether the remainder of the season will play out as planned. With the Bahrain Grand Prix scheduled to take place next week, we suspect that race might be cancelled as well.

We now await news about the remainder of the season.

[Source – Formula 1][Image – CC BY SA 2.0 Artes Max]

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