Officially confirmed: Australian Grand Prix has been cancelled due to coronavirus. The Australian GP has been cancelled due to the coronavirus.

Formula 1’s Australian Grand Prix has been postponed due to the coronavirus. On Thursday, McLaren confirmed that a team member has tested positive for the virus, while four members of the Haas team recorded negative results. A variety of sources, including the BBC, have confirmed the news.

Following the latest developments, the Australian Grand Prix weekend which was due to get underway on Friday has been postponed. Just hours after McLaren withdrew from the race following one of its staff members being confirmed as having coronavirus, F1 team bosses got together to discuss what to do.

In the talks with the FIA and F1 teams, a majority of squads said they were unhappy to continue with the event. The governing body said it would accept a majority decision of the teams so would move to call off the event. A few minutes later the confirmation was received: the 2020 Australian Grand Prix will not take place this weekend, as F1 and the FIA formally announced the decision.

”Following the confirmation that a member of the McLaren Racing Team has tested positive for COVID-19 and the team’s decision to withdraw from the Australian Grand Prix, the FIA and Formula 1 convened a meeting of the other nine team principals on Thursday evening. Those discussions concluded with a majority view of the teams that the race should not go ahead. The FIA and Formula 1, with the full support of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation (AGPC) have therefore taken the decision that all Formula 1 activity for the Australian Grand Prix is cancelled.

We appreciate this is very disappointing news for the thousands of fans due to attend the race and all ticket holders will receive a full refund and a further announcement will be communicated in due course.

All parties took into consideration the huge efforts of the AGPC, Motorsport Australia, staff and volunteers to stage the opening round of the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship in Melbourne, however concluded that the safety of all members of the Formula 1 family and the wider community, as well as the fairness of the competition take priority.”