Five years ago: The story of the cancellation of the 2020 Australian Grand Prix

« I don't shake your hand, but my heart is in it! » This quickly became the chosen formula when greeting a colleague, a driver, or a team member in the aisles of Albert Park. Except that our hearts were never in it. We pretended to laugh about it by tapping elbows or feet, miming fear whenever a cough was heard nearby, teasing the Italian journalists in the press room. Laughter as a mask for the dull worry that only grew. Never had we seen such a crush at the exit of the toilets to wash our hands. And what diligence when it came to scrubbing! In the four corners of the paddock and the media center were an army of hydroalcoholic gel dispensers. Enough to make the smallest French pharmacy die of envy and irritate your skin from overusing the magic product.

Anxious to protect their most precious assets, namely the drivers, the teams were quick to implement the famous barrier gestures which prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, the infamous star of a weekend of Formula 1 that should never have happened. The warning signs were clear, however. For example, during our connecting flight at Dubai airport on the outward journey, the majority of people we encountered were wearing protective surgical masks, including us. On the plane that took us to Melbourne, the Italian photographers who work for Ferrari seemed