Tennis in Melbourne 'a template' for F1 – Ricciardo

Jan.20 (GMM) Daniel Ricciardo is watching current events in Melbourne with great interest.

At present, the world of international tennis is holed up in the city ahead of the Australian Open, observing a strict 14-day hotel quarantine.

It was Australia’s quarantine rules that forced the postponement of Formula 1’s 2021 season opener in Melbourne.

“I’m a massive tennis fan and I’m going to be watching it, and I’m hoping they can pull it off because it’s a template in some ways for how we can get our event done in November,” the 2021 McLaren driver told the local newspaper The Age.

“If it goes smoothly for the Open, that’s great for us. It’s a bold challenge for the city to take on and I admire them for that.”

At present, the tennis quarantine is highly contentious, with some players complaining about conditions in the hotel while top stars like Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams enjoy much better conditions in Adelaide.

Ricciardo says the quarantine would never have worked for F1.

“Tennis, they’re potentially there for two weeks so it makes more sense in that respect,” he said.

“Shifting it (the GP) to November gives us a chance to have a proper event, and that’s what we’re hoping for. In the end, if we’re going to have the Australian GP we all want, we had to do it this way.”