![\"Drivers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/045146f99264b2af118d43b3012370479aed7838.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n\u201cFrom our event perspective everyone that needs to get here has had their flights confirmed or changed as necessary, and there\u2019s no impact expected to our event at all,\u201d he told this masthead.<\/p>\n
Auld said he expected all drivers and teams to be in Melbourne \u201cpretty much\u201d by Wednesday and there would not be any impact to practice times.<\/p>\n
Some staff have already arrived, unaffected by any travel disruptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s some drivers already in Australia,\u201d Auld said. \u201cThere\u2019s some team members already in Australia, but there\u2019s a number that are in the UK and broadly throughout Europe that need to get here, but they\u2019ve just had to find another way.\u201d<\/p>\n
This masthead contacted the FIA and individual teams, but only Audi and Alpine had replied at the time of publication.<\/p>\n
An Audi spokesperson said the team was not concerned about any logistical or safety issues in the lead-up to Melbourne, and would arrive on schedule.<\/p>\n
Audi has been \u201cin close contact with F1 and the FIA\u201d and was \u201cfollowing their guidance\u201d for international travel, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019ll be no impact on the race or event in any way\u2026 How that looks for every team in F1 I\u2019m not exactly sure, but from the event delivery point of view I know they\u2019ll be here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Travis Auld<\/p>\n
Alpine did not wish to comment on the team\u2019s specific travel details but confirmed it had to deviate from its usual routes to Australia.<\/p>\n
The majority of F1 drivers live in Europe, while technicians, engineers, mechanics and communications staff are scattered across the globe.<\/p>\n
Auld said there had been \u201cincredible cooperation\u201d from Melbourne Airport with the F1 teams to get to the track despite the conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s been a process for them,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m sure it\u2019s been a lot of work on their behalf\u2026 we\u2019ll see them all arrive on time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Auld said the information he had received from F1 was that everyone who needed to be in Melbourne would be here for the race.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Drivers were able to complete pre-season testing periods in Bahrain in mid-February.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019ll be no impact on the race or event in any way,\u201d he said. \u201cHow that looks for every team in F1 I\u2019m not exactly sure, but from the event delivery point of view I know they\u2019ll be here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most F1 teams headquarters are located in the United Kingdom, with reigning constructors\u2019 championships McLaren based in Woking, Mercedes in Brackley, Red Bull in Milton Keynes and Aston Martin in Silverstone.<\/p>\n
Much of Ferrari\u2019s staff is based in Maranello in Italy, while new team Cadillac has a base in North Carolina and also in Silverstone.<\/p>\n
Nearly all the 22 F1 drivers on the grid as well as team principals and retired drivers live in Monaco, one of the world\u2019s smallest nations.<\/p>\n
And Bahrain, which has been directly impacted by the conflict and where airspace is now closed, hosts pre-season testing for Formula 1.<\/p>\n
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Testing for teams ran from February 11-20, but additional wet-weather development tests were scheduled from February 28-March 1.<\/p>\n
Pirelli, the official tyre supplier for Formula 1, cancelled its scheduled testing in Bahrain, citing security and safety concerns for their staff.<\/p>\n
Dennis Bunnik, the co-CEO of Adelaide-based travel agency Bunnik Tours, said ground travel into Saudi Arabia would be required before any flights.<\/p>\n
\u201cSaudi airspace is open,\u201d said Bunnik. \u201cSo if they can get down into Saudi Arabia, then they could fly from Saudi Arabia out via South-East Asia [to arrive in Australia].<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they can\u2019t get out of Bahrain into Saudi, then they\u2019ll really have to wait until the airspace is open, in which case, that would obviously impact Formula 1.\u201d<\/p>\n
Popular Australian motorsport photographer Kym Illman posted on Instagram that many F1 crews from the United Kingdom and Europe were finding alternate routes via Asian ports to get to Melbourne.<\/p>\n
He said flight prices had skyrocketed.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach team is expecting 100+ staff\/crew in Melbourne and right now, it\u2019s estimated that a quarter of that number have arrived; the others are due between now and Thursday,\u201d Illman said in his post.<\/p>\n
While Auld and the FIA \u2013 motorsport\u2019s governing body \u2013 assured fans there would be no impact on the Australian Grand Prix, the rest of the F1 calendar currently looks uncertain.<\/p>\n
Races four and five on the Formula 1 calendar are in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia on April 12th and 19th. The sports penultimate and final race are held in Qatar and Abu Dhabi respectively<\/p>\n
An F1 spokesperson told Forbes and ESPN F1 they were monitoring the unfolding situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur next three races are in Australia, China and Japan and not in the Middle East \u2013 those races are not for a number of weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs always, we closely monitor any situation like this and work closely with relevant authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Chris Zappone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cFrom our event perspective everyone that needs to get here has had their flights confirmed or changed as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-513605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}