Sep.25 (GMM) Big doubts have emerged about whether Melbourne will return to the F1 calendar in 2021.

The city is currently in a highly controversial lockdown to eliminate cases of coronavirus. There were 14 new cases on Thursday.

With the forthcoming AFL football grand final moved out of Melbourne for the first time ever, it appears doubtful the state government led by Daniel Andrews would allow Formula 1 to race at Albert Park next March.

Indeed, it is rumoured that F1’s first 2021 calendar – to be unveiled shortly – will feature Bahrain as the season opener.

A popular annual support race at the Australian GP is the domestic Supercars series, and its CEO Sean Seamer admits a question mark hangs over the 2021 F1 event.

“Like everyone else, I’m awaiting confirmation that the event is going ahead,” he said. “From there we will figure out what we’re going to do.

“The first thing we have to do is just to get the event confirmed.”