A 5 Year Retrospective of the 2020 Australian Grand Prix

It is difficult to fathom that the 2025 Australian Grand Prix will mark 5 years since that fateful day in 2020, which not only saw Formula One cancelled for the immediate future – but much of the world thrown into isolation and lockdowns.

For many it may feel like a blur; the Covid-19 pandemic. Others may recall it more vividly, perhaps having felt more of a personal impact. Here though, is a retrospective of the events on Friday the 13^th of March.

Leading into the start of the Formula One season in 2020, there were growing concerns globally about this Coronavirus – however nothing to the same degree as what was seen in Melbourne following the cancellation of the event.

Covering the event on the ground for The Roar at the time, Thursday seemed like any other ‘first day of school’ day at Albert Park. Teams conducted their media sessions and the photographers hustled at the end of the paddock to get all the profile shots of the drivers and their new helmets.

It wasn’t until the official FIA driver’s press conference when the then six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton shared his view on the situation – did I even raise an eyebrow in concern. And no, seeing Esteban Ocon in a facemask earlier on didn’t warrant the same reaction.

“For me, it is shocking that we are all sitting in this [press conference] room,” opined Hamilton.

“It seems like the rest of the world is reacting… you see the NBA has been suspended, yet Formula One continues to go on.”

“Cash is king, but I honestly don’t know,” was the response when quizzed as to why the race was going ahead at the time.

Having finished up for the day, it was later that evening at around 10:20pm AEDT that news broke of F1’s first positive case of Covid-19. A team member from McLaren testing positive, ahead of the outfit ultimately announcing it would withdraw from the Australian Grand Prix.

Friday the 13th

The first thing I recall of the day is the former Victorian Premier in Daniel Andrews addressing the media and stating that the event would be staged behind closed doors, “if at all.”

A real disconnect between what was being communicated or lack thereof from F1 and its governing body in the FIA. Having been tasked by The Roar’s chief editor to live blog the events of the morning, I made it my goal to accurately report what was happening trackside.

At 9am AEDT, the curfew on team personnel in the paddock was lifted and rather than the usual stampede of people rushing in to get final preparations done ahead of the first practice session of the season – only six of the nine remaining teams were spotted arriving.

Support categories such as TCR Australia and the Supercars championship also delayed their morning track activities, as the hordes of fans were queued up outside the gates and being refused entry at this point.

Not until 10:08am AEDT that the news was official and a joint statement from F1, the FIA and Australian Grand Prix Corporation had been released to confirm the cancellation of the event. And a collective sigh of relief for the fact it was now officially over.

Teams had already begun a soft pack down I recall prior to the announcement, but now it was in full swing, and it wasn’t even midday yet on the day the first practice session for the season was supposed to commenced.

F1 CEO Chase Carey, with AGPC chiefs in Andrew Westacott and Paul Little, together with Race Director Michael Masi then faced the media outside the Albert Park paddock and media centre area.

The term ‘fluid’ was used plenty to emphasis the rapidly changing situation, particularly in relation to the subsequent races which had originally been scheduled in Bahrain a week after Australia and then the inaugural Vietnam Grand Prix.

Carey also rebutted Hamilton’s ‘cash is king’ line with, “if cash was king, then we wouldn’t have cancelled [the Australian GP]”. Though with the all-powerful ability of hindsight – perhaps it shouldn’t have taken place at all.

262 Days

I went home that Friday afternoon more relishing the fact I didn’t have to return to my day job for the weekend, rather than anticipating or having any idea of what was to come – particularly for the city I called home.

Sports and entertainment events across Australia quickly began shutting down, as did venues and then eventually retail. 262 days ended up being the total number of days that Melbournians spent in Stage 4 lockdown conditions across 2020 and 2021.

A record number globally, which until this day – unless you were in it, still don’t quite get a grasp of the impact.

There was also the impact of wider social issues being felt; for example Stateside with the murder of George Floyd in police custody and also Breonna Taylor earlier on in March. Issues that Hamilton en route to his seventh world title, began campaigning for such as ending racism and a greater emphasis and equality and diversity.

It was great that F1 that by July, was one of the first international sports to return and the butterfly effect that the pandemic had on it speaks for itself. The period of commercial boom that F1 finds itself in can be attributed to Coronavirus and the fact many were stuck at home and watching the live races and content such as Drive to Survive.

This created such an appetite for the sport, that eventually when Melbourne was opened up again by the summer of 2022 – the hunger for F1’s return to Albert Park had superseded any previous event, dating back to when it moved from Adelaide in 1996.

An estimated 420,000 attendees were clocked through the gates in 2022, with that number only growing in the subsequent events and now on the eve of the 2025 race where the Australian Grand Prix moves back into its traditional spot as season open for the first time since 2020 – the expectation is that the numbers will only grow further.