Bahrain will step in to host the 2021 season-opener with the Australian Grand Prix, which has traditionally been the first race of the season in modern Formula One, likely to instead take place in the Autumn, according to Lawrence Stroll.
The Canadian billionaire, who heads up the consortium of investors which owns the newly rebranded Aston Martin Racing F1 Team, made the comments on Thursday.
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“Melbourne has been – it’s not officially announced but it will be – not cancelled but postponed,” Stroll told Reuters.
“We will go there sometime in the fall [autumn] and the first race will be Bahrain,” he added.
Commenting on the upcoming season and the COVID-19 pandemic in general, Stroll said there is “light at the end of the tunnel” and he praised Formula One for successfully putting together a Championship last year.
“I do believe we’re in for a difficult two or three months. There is a light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccine. I think the first few races will be slightly challenging.
“But Formula One management and the FIA, I really take my hat off to them to deliver 17 races as we did last year in 23 weeks, without really any major hiccups, in a very impressive manner.
“I think the worst is behind us and we’ve learnt through last year how to proceed with this year,” he added.
Earlier, it was reported that the Chinese Grand Prix could be cancelled and Formula One is likely to return to Imola and Algarve towards the start of the season.
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