Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, has said the Formula One paddock was close to considering a paddock lockdown in a bid to continue Friday running at the Australian Grand Prix.
After a McLaren team member tested positive for Coronavirus on Thursday, the team immediately withdrew from the weekend indefinitely.
Consequently, the move triggered a wave of panic amongst the remaining nine teams and the FIA concerning how the ‘McLaren-less’ weekend would now playout.
Speaking to motorsport.com, Horner admitted that at first, everyone was onboard discussions about locking down the paddock so as to ensure that Friday running would go ahead.
“Obviously we discussed the different scenarios,”
he said.
“There was a discussion of locking the paddock down and taking further precautions.
“The health authority and the FIA were OK to continue, if the majority of teams were OK with it. But unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”
The Australian Grand Prix was cancelled when, after lengthy discussions that continued well into the early hours of Friday morning, a majority vote of teams vetoed the move to lockdown the paddock.
Horner acknowledges that Red Bull tried everything in an attempt to proceed with the weekend but has been left ‘fustrated’ that the final decision was made to cancel the Grand Prix.
“Obviously it’s very disappointing not to be racing,”
concluded Horner.
“But we have to consider the health of our staff and personnel and, at the end of the day, the FIA and the promoter have decided to cancel the event. It’s frustrating.”