Melbourne GP cancelled

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Melbourne GP cancelled

#1

Post by PTRACER »

It's expected that both the Australian Formula 1 and MotoGP races won't go ahead later this year as planned due to the country's strict international border rules.

Personnel arriving from overseas would need to complete mandatory supervised quarantine for two weeks to be allowed into the country, something that neither category was likely to agree to.

Even if drivers and riders had agreed to undergo quarantine, it would have been difficult to facilitate thanks to a new cap on arrivals due to issues with the hotel quarantine system and the Delta strain of COVID-19.

The idea of a biosphere has twice been floated for the F1 race in Melbourne but it appears those talks with relevant health officials have failed.

An announcement is expected later today.
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#2

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

Yes, reports here say it is decided already with confirmation today. Absolutely no surprise to me. To be honest I dont see them meeting a March date for 2022, more like Nov 2022 until we see F1 here. Unless they relax the laws and allow double jabbed tested negative immediately before flying in in limited numbers.

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#3

Post by Vassago »

So what happened with "Australia is doing great in battle with COVID" thing? You're back to playing hardball with lockdowns again?
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#4

Post by Antonov »

Wouldn't be surprised at all.

Question - will they replace it with another round?
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#5

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

Vassago wrote: 2 years ago So what happened with "Australia is doing great in battle with COVID" thing? You're back to playing hardball with lockdowns again?
Well, we are doing great with it relative to other nations...... but we keep getting mini spikes every time we relax things. A couple of weeks ago it was Victoria, but a quick lockdown held that at bay.We are now back to zero new cases and very few active cases. Certainly no fatalities. Now it is Sydney (NSW) having a spike. Yesterday 35 new cases, so now they are in lockdown, and not allowed to visit other states. Queensland also to a minor degree with a couple of transmissions within the community. We dont want to get back to the last year situation of people dying from it and hundreds of new cases daily.

The biggest problem is that our vaccine programme is far behind what it should be, partially caused by supply shortages but also complacency from those who think we have won and so no need. However the recent spikes have sent people clamouring for vaccination. As most of the transmissions have stemmed from returning Aussies from India and Europe (in quarantine) our nation has now halved the allowance of returning residents to a total of a couple of thousand per week (there are still some 35+ thousand Aussies stranded overseas unable to return home to their families). The need for any returnees to quarantine in hotels means any 'extras' such as F1 personnel would need to quarantine, no way of avoiding it. With Brazil immediately before the scheduled date there was no time for a quarantine to be done. That and F1were not prepared to spend 14 days in quarantine. Brazil, where they would be arriving from, being a hotbed of Covid infection did not help matters.

In a nutshell the progress we have made in keeping on top of Covid with the strict measures taken, was never going to be compromised for a Motor race. Especially not with Federal elections imminent. Allowing F1 people to enter whilst restricting thousands of Aussies repatriating with their families does not make good election fodder.

Our vaccine programme is not expected to be back on track optimistically until late this year/early next year, and that was always a key proviso of opening our borders anyway.

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#6

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

Still not been officially canned, but the Premier has just made a statement that pretty much says its not happening. He pretty much said what I said previously about the lack of locals being jabbed and the lack of willingness / time for F1 people to quarantine. He also mentioned the recent 50% cut in permitted Aussie arrivals.
Premier Andrews intimated that an agreement couldn’t be reached with the respective organisers to see either F1 or MotoGP visit Australia in 2021.

As a result, this year’s event is set to be axed.

“With travel caps being halved, with us not yet being at a critical mass of Australians who’ve got the jab, with the protection and freedom and options that that gives us, running big international events is very challenging,” he said.

“We’ll get to that point by the end of the year, we’ll be really able to ramp up, but until that point we have to do everything we can to safeguard not bringing the virus in, particularly the Delta variant.

“Once we get to that point, where everyone who wants to be vaccinated has been, we’ll have the ability to run major events and have people move much more freely in and out of our country.”

He added that there is no risk to the 2022 race at this stage, with a contract in place until 2025 with Formula 1.

“I think we’ve got a very good working relationship with F1,” Premier Andrews said.

“The question is though, can what they need and what we can reasonably agree to, can that set of arrangements be made to work when you’ve halved the number of people coming into the country, and when you’ve got 10 percent of people vaccinated when you need 70 or 80 percent to have had the jab?

“We’re not at that point, the timing doesn’t line up.

“There’s no conflict there, some things are possible in a pandemic and some things are really hard.”

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#7

Post by MonteCristo »

Vassago wrote: 2 years ago So what happened with "Australia is doing great in battle with COVID" thing? You're back to playing hardball with lockdowns again?
We've basically got vaccine elitism, combined with our governments (state and national) are doing some very weird messaging that's making most people want to shun the Astra vaccine.
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#8

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

It seems we are about 15 minutes from official confirmation.....CEO of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation Andrew Westacott will be joining Minister for Sport Martin Pakula to talk to media about the race at 3:00pm AEST.

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#9

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

CONFIRMED: Australian F1 and MotoGP races cancelled

Official statement:
“The Australian Grand Prix Corporation (AGPC) in conjunction with the Victorian Government, Formula 1 and Dorna Sports today announced the 2021 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix and 2021 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix are cancelled due to restrictions and logistical challenges relating to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” a statement from the Australian Grand Prix Corporation confirmed.

Andrew Westacott, CEO of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, said: “We understand this is not the news MotoGP and Formula 1 fans wanted to hear.

“I would like to extend my thanks to the Victorian Government, Formula 1 and Dorna Sports for their unwavering resilience and support during this challenging period, and for their ongoing commitment to these two great events.

“There are bound to be ongoing challenges with COVID-19, but I want to reassure fans that while there is sadness and disappointment amongst our wonderful AGPC staff there is a tenacity and determination to make sure the next episodes of MotoGP at the island and Formula 1 at the new Albert Park layout are sensational showcases of how we do things in Victoria.”

The demise of the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix comes as a blow in a season which has seen Jack Miller and Remy Gardner claim victory in MotoGP and Moto2 respectively.

Reports out of Europe last week claimed Portugal was in line to replace the Phillip Island race and came as national cabinet agreed to cut overseas arrivals into Australia.

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#10

Post by acerogers58 »

If our government could actually roll out vaccines at a reasonable rate then we wouldn't have to do this.
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#11

Post by Star »

Our government has rolled out vaccines at a rate of speed, the virus is kicking our butt right now with between 25-30,000 new cases every day. Hospitalisations are up 25% but, so far, the death rate hasn't climbed much and they're talking about opening everything up by 19th June and dispensing with social distancing and masks etc. It's a recipe for disaster if you ask me :(
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