The COVID-19 calamity shuts down motorsports the world over

Not since the onset of World War 2 have world affairs been so compromised and affected as it is today in the face of Coronavirus and Formula 1 and the rest of motorsport is certainly not exempt from the slate of international activity being swept clean.

It started with the Chinese Grand Prix being called off early following the Covid-19 outbreak there, forcing the mainland to shut down in its entirety. That move will still have repercussions in a financial and business backlash that will follow the total break in Chinese production — a phenomenon which is following on through the rest of the industrialised world as we speak.

Most other motor races around the world have been or will be cancelled and we will get to that anon in this article, but the most controversial was without last week’s thirteenth hour culling of the Australian Grand Prix with spectators quite literally queueing at the gate to watch first practice.  

F1, the FIA and the Aussie GP organisers have come under huge criticism for ignoring all the signs and going on with the race in the face of growing uncertainty around Coronavirus, which was upgraded to pandemic status during last week.

Covid-19 crisis

While the Chinese Grand Prix already called off soon after it became apparent that Covid19 was fast becoming an international issue, F1 continued it hold out and continually confirmed the show would go on in Australia, Bahrain (without spectators) and Vietnam, even with the Italian crisis just starting to take frightening affect two weeks ago.

Many questioned whether it was wise for F1 to travel to Australia and the remaining early season races and indeed, most travelling to Australia out of Italy and other affected countries required special arrangements just to get out of their quarantined homelands and leave their families in crisis.

On Thursday, on the eve of the race, six-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton confessed his concerns to just leave his Melbourne hotel room and later in the day, McLaren confirmed that several of its team members had tested positive for Covid-19 and the team withdrew from the race. Fourteen exposed team members remain in quarantine in Melbourne.

What followed was a farce of embarrassing proportion as F1 and its stakeholders debated whether to race or not, before the universally accepted call not to, was made literally hours before first practice was due to commence and with fans waiting at the gate.  

Weak FIA response

The FIA offered a limp response “We appreciate this is very disappointing news for the thousands of fans … the safety of all members of the Formula 1 family and the wider community, as well as the fairness of the competition take priority.” That statement in itself hypocritical — as noted, many questioned why F1 went to Melbourne at all and most consider its insistence to do so arrogant — Lewis Hamilton going as far to utter ‘cash is king’ quizzed why he thought F1 defied the obvious and headed down under, against all odds.

The teams were united in their support of the albeit very late cancellation — Mercedes F1 confirmed: “The well being of our team members and of the wider F1 community are our absolute priority,” while Ferrari added: “we fully support the decision … and feel very sorry for the fans here as well as all those who would have been watching around the world.” Red Bull echoed that sentiment and went on: “Our focus now shifts to ensuring that all personnel return home as safely and quickly as possible and that all necessary precautions taken.”

That late call has however not at all alleviated a crisis as teams continue repatriate home out of a Formula 1 paddock contaminated with a virus for a weekend that many feel should never have gone ahead in the first place. Many traders, F1-affiliated companies and other businesses also lost all turnover after most had set up in Melbourne, several of them having flown stock, equipment stock in to Australia at great expense — the list of those compromised is long.

Races called off

While several races were already called off before the Australian fiasco, that move opened the flood gates and even as we wrote, the Dutch Grand Prix joined the Chinese, Bahrain and Vietnam races being cancelled pending further development. All may well yet be moved to dates later in the year , but there is no certainty  that  they will. Popular opinion suggests the Spanish Grand Prix will soon join the cancelled quartet.

Some suggest that Baku may be the first Grand Prix to go ahead should expected trends continue and the pandemic subside as models suggest it may do by end-May. That said, there is no guarantee there will be any at all racing until July and indeed even this year, while there are already suggestions that mooted new 2021 regulations could be deferred a season to allow this year’s cars to race and amortise teams’ expenses.  

But remember, the coming echo of financial catastrophe on the back of the current commercial freeze is likely to have its own issues altogether and how that all pans out is likley open up a whole new can of worms. Frightening prospects indeed.

Formula 1 is not alone

Formula 1 is by no means the only motorsport to have races culled — the Johannesburg Formula 1 Festival has been put off until further notice and Formula E's Japan, Rome, Paris, Seoul and Jakarta ePrix have been canceled, with the rest of the electric season suspended indefinitely. The Sebring 1000 mile World Endurance race is cancelled, the Sebring 12-hour postponed and both those WEC and IMSA series are on ice too, as are the St. Petersburg, Alabama, Long Beach and Texas Indycar Grands Prix cancelled.

NASCAR's March Atlanta and Miami races have been canceled so far and national race meetings the world over are folding by the hour. On two wheels, The Qatar Moto1 Grand Prix was canceled but Moto 2 and 3 went on because the teams were already there testing from two weeks prior and all of the  Buriram, Aragon, Americas, Argentina, Valencia, Qatar, Spanish and French Grands Prix are either postponed or provisionally moved to try fit them all in.

For all intents and purposes, most motorsport and any other crowd or group activity most everywhere around the world has stopped dead and will stay so for three to six months at least, as the world stays indoors to avoid infection in the biggest world crisis since World War 2. And how the ensuing financial and business crisis that follows the virus plays out still remains to be seen.

Message from Paddock Legends CEO Markus Schell

Paddock Legends CEO Markus Schell, in Melbourne for what should have been the season opener, said of the latest development: "Obviously it is very disappointing for everyone in F1 as we were all looking forward for an exciting season. This will have a big impact in not only the F1 business across the board, but all companies in every sphere of our life. 

The world is on pause and we await what fate has in store for us confident that in the end we will emerge stronger. Meanwhile many well laid-out plans are in disarray, but the most important thing is everyone gets home safely. 

"We applaud the decision of the organisers, F1 stake holders and teams made to postpone the start of the season as the health risk is unacceptable for all concerned. Personally, and on behalf of Paddock Legends, I wish everyone in F1 has a safe journey home and wish we we meet again when the coronavirus is conquered."

See you next time... whenever that might be!

It is impossible to predict where any of it will go. Formula 1 and motorsport will now just have to wait - we can only hope and pray that things return to normal soon and all we can do is wait it out to see if it will. Hopefully we see you soon at a race meeting some time in the future...