GP Racing - UK (2020-04)

GP RACING APRIL 2020 17

TEAMSSECURE

DELAYEDINTRODUCTION

02 OF2021RULES

F1’sleadershipunder

fireasotherrace

venuesdropout 03

from thelocal health authorities, or unless the commercial

rights holder was unable to put 12 or more carson the grid

(thereby breaching Article5.7 of the Sporting Reguations),

it could notcancel the event. Ifit did, it wouldbe liable

for damages. For obvious commercial reasons, neither

Formula 1nor the race promoter wanted to cancel.

Solidarity amongthe teams would have provided the

FIA with the numbers it needed,but this was notiniti ally

fort hcoming.Ferrari indicated it would joinMcLaren in

withdrawing immediately,and Renault and Alfa Romeo

said they were ready tofollow (indeed,word circulated

that Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen were packing

their bagsas t he meeting took place).But Mercedes,

Red Bull, ScuderiaAlpha Tauri and RacingPoint favoured

F1 managingdirector of motorsportsRoss Brawn’s

proposal of running on Friday, potentially behindclosed

doors, then reviewing the situation onFriday ev ening.

FOR OBVIOUS

COMMERCIAL

REASONS,

NEITHER

FORMULA 1

NOR THERACE

PROMOTER

WANTED TO

CANCEL

Haas and Williams initially sat on the fence,sayi ngthey

would acce pt the majority view.

Since Brawn held thecastingvote, that meant the event

was set to continue– until Mercedes teamprincipal

Toto Wolff received a phonecall from Daimler CEO

Ola Källenius. After concluding the call, Wolff informed

Brawn that Mercedes wouldnow withdraw as well.

Whi le the grand prix itself was untenable atthis point,

the three teams still determined torace continued their

prepa rationson Friday morning. Track activities began

as normalwith laps by the two-seater F1Experiences car,

but the gates remained closedto spectators who had been

informed that some sortof event would be going ahead,

whether F1 cars ran or n ot. Thefarce was concluded by the

governmentannouncing the Australian Grand Prixcould

not take place, enabling the FIAand F1to officially cancel

it and leave thematte r in the handsof the insu rers.

Isitsafe?

Marathonseason

04 nowonpause

GP RACING APRIL 2020 17

TEAMSSECURE
DELAYEDINTRODUCTION
02 OF2021RULES

F1’sleadershipunder

fireasotherrace

venuesdropout 03

from thelocal health authorities, or unless the commercial

rights holder was unable to put 12 or more carson the grid

(thereby breaching Article5.7 of the Sporting Reguations),

it could notcancel the event. Ifit did, it wouldbe liable

for damages. For obvious commercial reasons, neither

Formula 1nor the race promoter wanted to cancel.

Solidarity amongthe teams would have provided the

FIA with the numbers it needed,but this was notiniti ally

fort hcoming.Ferrari indicated it would joinMcLaren in

withdrawing immediately,and Renault and Alfa Romeo

said they were ready tofollow (indeed,word circulated

that Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen were packing

their bagsas t he meeting took place).But Mercedes,

Red Bull, ScuderiaAlpha Tauri and RacingPoint favoured

F1 managingdirector of motorsportsRoss Brawn’s

proposal of running on Friday, potentially behindclosed

doors, then reviewing the situation onFriday ev ening.

FOR OBVIOUS

COMMERCIAL

REASONS,

NEITHER

FORMULA 1

NOR THERACE

PROMOTER

WANTED TO

CANCEL

Haas and Williams initially sat on the fence,sayi ngthey

would acce pt the majority view.

Since Brawn held thecastingvote, that meant the event

was set to continue– until Mercedes teamprincipal

Toto Wolff received a phonecall from Daimler CEO

Ola Källenius. After concluding the call, Wolff informed

Brawn that Mercedes wouldnow withdraw as well.

Whi le the grand prix itself was untenable atthis point,

the three teams still determined torace continued their

prepa rationson Friday morning. Track activities began

as normalwith laps by the two-seater F1Experiences car,

but the gates remained closedto spectators who had been

informed that some sortof event would be going ahead,

whether F1 cars ran or n ot. Thefarce was concluded by the

governmentannouncing the Australian Grand Prixcould

not take place, enabling the FIAand F1to officially cancel

it and leave thematte r in the handsof the insu rers.

Isitsafe?

Marathonseason

04 nowonpause