Australian motorsports fans look set to once again miss out on the Australian Grand Prix, with reports suggesting this year’s event will once again be cancelled.
7News is reporting that negotiations over a quarantine hub for drivers broke down, with an official annoucement coming later today.
The 2020 Australian Grand Prix was among one of the first major sporting events to be cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, with attendees sensationally turned away at the gates following a last-minute decision from the Victorian government.
With the 2021 Grand Prix not scheduled until November this year, the Dan Andrews-led government is giving far more notice this time around.
Andrews seemingly hinted at the cancellation this morning when he said: “some things are possible in a pandemic and some things are really hard”.
The Australian Grand Prix was initially moved from March to November, with Bahrain instead hosting what is usually the season opener for the F1.
Following the decision, Gemba head of marketing strategy Adam Hodge suggested moving the event “might just be the best thing to happen to the Aussie F1 (and its sponsors) since the first race in 1996”.
Hodge said spacing out the Australian Grand Prix from the Australian Open tennis tournament (which this year ran in February) would benefit sponsors of both events, due to the “increased clear space between the events”.
The slated November slot would have also put the Australian Grand Prix right in the middle of what is usually a quiet period for Australian sport, with football codes both finished for the year and cricket not yet in full swing.
As well as sponsors missing out on the opportunity to capitalise, the expected cancellation of the Australian Grand Prix will come as a blow to 10, which has the rights to the event.
Speaking to B&T last year, 10 chief sales officer Rod Prosser discussed the impact of the cancellation of the 2020 Grand Prix.
“We obviously lost revenue, which was a shame, but of course, we did the right thing by our sponsors and partners and the event didn’t go ahead. So they got their commitments back. That kind of set us up really moving into the other changes that we had to get our heads around,” he said.
