Chaos reigns in Australia as it seems that the season opening Formula 1 Grand Prix may or may not be back on after a split vote between teams left the fate of the coronavirus affected event up in the air. Most likely the event will officially be cancelled in the next few hours.
On Thursday evening, following the confirmed case of the coronavirus in the McLaren camp, team principals met with race organisers and a majority vote was used to decide whether the race would go ahead.
Reports coming from the Albert Park paddock on Friday morning, after no announcement was forthcoming from F1, the FIA or Liberty Media, have suggested that the vote was split evenly 5-5. McLaren, Ferrari, Renault, Alfa Romeo, Haas were the teams that voted for the race to be cancelled, while Mercedes, Red Bull, Alpha Tauri Rosso, Racing Point, Williams wanted the race to go on.
This meant that Friday morning saw all ten teams and the assembled media arrive back in the paddock ready to work, but thoroughly bemused by the situation.
In the on-off saga that the Australian Grand Prix is quickly becoming, a further twist was added when the BBC, the outlet that originally confirmed the cancellation of the race, confirmed that Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel had already flown out of Australia.
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