Though not yet officially confirmed, March's Australian Grand Prix has been postponed, Aston Martin team owner Lawrence Stroll says.
In recent days speculation has been growing over the fate of Formula 1's planned season-opener as new measures are implemented to deal with new Covid-19 clusters that have emerged.
As a result of these measures, F1 personnel would either have to quarantine two weeks in advance of the race or operate in a closed biosphere, as was the case in Abu Dhabi.
And though officials said this week that talks are "ongoing", Stroll all-but-confirmed rumours the race has been pushed back to potentially November.
"Melbourne has been - it's not officially announced but it will be - not cancelled but postponed," the Canadian told Reuters on Thursday.
"We will go there sometime in the fall (Autumn) and the first race will be Bahrain."
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Already, it is also speculated the Chinese GP could be cancelled for the second straight year, with the Emilia Romagna and Portuguese GP's set to be the second and third races in April/May.
However, the Aston Martin chief is confident the record 23-race schedule F1 has planned this year can still be fulfilled.
"I do believe we're in for a difficult two or three months," said Stroll initially. "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."
While F1 is still focused on Melbourne to host the Australian GP, The Bend Motorsport Park near Adelaide is once again offering to be a potential Plan B.
“Our position is unchanged from 2020, meaning, yes, absolutely, we’d love to host the F1,” a circuit spokesperson told GPFans.
“We haven’t approached F1 about this and are unlikely to as it is really up to them. We work with the FIA for our regular track activities so they’re well aware of our willingness if the need arises.
“The Bend can be upgraded to meet FIA Grade 1 requirements fairly rapidly as we have intentionally built the circuit with this in mind.”
