Formula 1 CEO and chairman Chase Carey has issued a public apology to fans following the late cancellation of the Australian Grand Prix four days ago.
He added his sympathies to those affected by the decision to strike three other races from the calendar. New dates have not been announced for any of the events so far.The season-opening race was called off almost 12 hours after McLaren announced it would not take part in the event because one of its team members had tested positive for the Coronavirus. Fans had already begun to arrive at the track for F1 practice on Friday morning when official word was given that the event had been called off.
Addressing fans in a letter published on the sport’s social media accounts, Carey said: “First and foremost, our priority is the health and safety of the fans, teams, and organisations of Formula 1, as well as wider society.
“We apologise to those fans affected by the cancellation in Australia, as well as the postponement of the other races to date. These decisions are being made by Formula 1, the FIA, and our local promoters in rapidly changing and evolving circumstances, but we believe they are the right and necessary ones. We also want to extend our thoughts to those already affected, including those in the Formula 1 family.”
“We recognise everyone wants to know what comes next for Formula 1 in 2020,” he said. “We cannot provide specific answers today given the fluidity of the situation.
“However, we plan to get the 2020 championship season underway as soon as it’s safe to do so. We are engaging with experts and officials on a daily basis as we evaluate how we go forward in the next few months.”
Carey promised to keep fans “updated and provide details as soon as possible”, adding “we are grateful for your support and understanding and we wish you and your families all the best.”
- View the current list of races cancelled due to the Coronavirus
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Telvee32 (@telvee32)
17th March 2020, 17:44
Stop lying. If that were the case, then the race would have been cancelled immediately after you found out that there was covid-19 in the paddock, not after twelve hours of dithering while you played hot potato with the organisers over who would pay the cancellation bill.
JMDan (@danmar)
18th March 2020, 4:30
He’s practicing to run for office – where you’re not allowed to do anything right.
alex
17th March 2020, 18:21
And to the people that prepared and bought the food the fans will eat in the 3 days weekend… Which they lost massively money because all that food went to the trash….
Antz (@antznz)
17th March 2020, 18:53
He really had no ******* clue does he!? I guess that’s really just another shareholder statement.
John H (@john-h)
18th March 2020, 7:26
The real apology should be in response to not cancelling early enough. Disappointing.
Thankhu
18th March 2020, 10:49
It’s a very F1 apology. He says sorry for the race being cancelled but doesn’t own up to any mistakes being made. Why did the decision take so long? Why were so may people allowed to turn up?
An apology should be humble and show learning and growth, otherwise it’s basically saying “something bad happened. Oh well, who would have thought that could happen?”
Almost every other international sporting event has managed to cancel without putting the fans in unnecessary risk. If F1 wants the fans to think they give two hoots about them, Liberty need to try much, much harder.