The weeks before the Grand Prix saw several major sporting events either cancelled or postponed as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic, which was declared a
pandemic by
World Health Organization on 12 March. The
Chinese Grand Prix had already been postponed several weeks prior and would later be cancelled altogether. Italian-based teams Ferrari and AlphaTauri expressed concern, as the
COVID-19 pandemic in Italy was one of the worst outbreaks of the virus outside China. As the
Australian Government did not initially implement a travel ban for Italy the way it had for China, Iran, and South Korea, Ferrari and AlphaTauri were concerned over the ability of their staff to leave the quarantine zone established in northern Italy.
Ross Brawn, the managing director of the sport, announced that Grands Prix would not go ahead if a team were blocked from entering a host nation, but added that a race could take place if a team voluntarily chose not to enter a host nation. Organisers of the
Bahrain Grand Prix, which was originally scheduled to take place one week after the Australian race, announced that spectators would not be permitted to attend the event. Organisers of the Australian Grand Prix opted against similar measures, instead moving to minimise contact between spectators and competitors. The rule was also applied to competitors in support categories, including the
Supercars Championship,
S5000 Championship, and the
TCR Asia-Pacific Cup, which was to be held as a non-championship round of the
TCR Australia Series. Five crew members, four from
Haas and one from
McLaren, were entered into quarantine upon arriving in Melbourne when they displayed flu-like symptoms. All five of them were tested for COVID-19 and the results came out negative for the Haas members but positive for the McLaren member. McLaren made the announcement on Thursday evening and withdrew from the race. A photographer later entered isolation as well. Victoria Premier
Daniel Andrews was criticised for allowing the Grand Prix to go ahead; he responded by saying that cancelling the race would be a disproportionate reaction to the advice the
state government had been given. Daniel Andrews announced that spectators would be banned from attending if the Grand Prix were to go ahead, before the race was cancelled on the Friday morning a few hours before the Formula One cars were due to commence their first practice session. It subsequently emerged that only three teams—
Red Bull Racing, its sister team Scuderia AlphaTauri and
Racing Point—were willing to compete if the race went ahead. After the cancellation, a further fourteen team members from McLaren were put into quarantine. All support category events were also cancelled. These had conducted practice and qualifying sessions on the Thursday, along with a singular race for the
Porsche Carrera Cup Australia series. A two-seater
Minardi also performed some demonstration runs early on the Friday morning. The 2020 season would eventually start with the
Austrian Grand Prix at the
Red Bull Ring in July 2020.
Attempt to reschedule Shortly after the cancellation, organisers announced that they planned to reschedule the race for later in the year. Several more Grands Prix were cancelled or postponed and the start of the championship delayed until July. A new calendar with eight races was eventually published, but the Australian Grand Prix was not included; however,
Liberty Media announced that they intended to hold as many as fifteen races. In June 2020, federal tourism minister
Simon Birmingham announced that the Australian government expected that the country's borders would be closed to international travel until 2021. The race was never rescheduled for the 2020 season, with the 2021 event moved from the traditional March date to November, before being cancelled for a second consecutive year. After a two-year absence due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the
2022 edition came back in April as the third round of the championship on a new circuit layout. ==Lawsuit==