F1 has confirmed that the South Africa Fan Festival has been postponed after WHO declared COVID-19 as a pandemic.
The F1 Fan Festival was to take place on March 29 in Johannesburg with support from Heineken as Red Bull Racing (David Coulthard), Mercedes (Valtteri Bottas) and Renault were due to be there along with 1979 champion and native Jody Scheckter.
But with global events being cancelled and or postponed due to WHO declaring COVID-19 as a pandemic, it became evident that F1 will have to forcefully take a decision, keeping in minds the safety of the people due to the mass gathering to happen.
Ellie Norman, Director of Marketing & Communications said: “Following the announcement from the World Health Organisation categorising COVID -19 as a pandemic earlier this week, we have made the unfortunate decision to postpone the festival. Our fans health and safety is paramount and whist we know this decision will be disappointing for our fans we believe this is the right decision at this time.
“We would like to thank all our partners and those involved in making the event happen, and we are fully committed to returning to bring the excitement of F1 back to South Africa.” At the same time, Warren Scheckter, CEO of SAGP stated:
“Although everyone will be very disappointed, given the current situation regarding COVID-19, the decision to postpone the F1 Joburg Festival is the appropriate course of action. Hopefully it won’t be long before circumstances are such that we are able to reschedule the event, and we look forward to working with Formula 1 and Gauteng Province in our continued efforts to bring Formula 1 back to South Africa.”
And finally, Morakane Mosupyoe, Gauteng MEC for Economic Development added: “We understand and support the postponement of the F1 Joburg Festival, given the prevailing circumstances.
“Gauteng remains committed to the F1 Joburg Festival, and we look forward to being the destination partner of the event in due course, in line with our provincial drive to use the hosting of quality business, sporting and lifestyle events as a catalyst for socio-economic growth, job creation and destination marketing efforts to grow Gauteng together.”
F1 will try to re-schedule the event but it looks unlikely due to the packed schedule. For now, they have confirmed that fans will get a refund of the tickets purchased. They can do that by going to Shoprite, Checkers, Checkers Hyper, Computicket outlets or House & Home stores for full refunds until April 13, 2020.
At the same time, all the uncollected tickets and print at home transactions made via Call Centre and Web will be refunded automatically and will reflect within 3-7 working days, as per the information provided.
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