Marko: Red Bull 'were ready to race' in Australia, 'but certain people changed their minds'

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has confirmed that Red Bull were ready to race in Australia, despite the confirmed case of cornavirus within the McLaren team.

Marko has said that Red Bull would have preferred to have followed the advice given by the local authorities racing behind closed doors rather than cancelling the event as a whole.

"We were ready to race," Marko told Auto Motor und Sport. "Others were ready too, but they wouldn't have had an engine."

Asked why he felt the decision had taken so long to cancel the race had taken so long to be reached, Marko added," Because certain people have changed their minds several times."

It is believed that Marko is referring to Mercedes with his comments, with reports suggesting that the Silver Arrows were initially keen to race before parent company Daimler pulled the plug on any Mercedes powered entries from racing.

Marko also said that continuing with Friday practice would have allowed for further thought to go into how best to proceed, an opinion unlikely to be widely shared with many voicing that the decision to cancel took too long to be made.

"There was a coronavirus case in the paddock," said Marko. "Now that everyone is already there, you could have started free practice, carried out further examinations and then made a final decision.

"It will definitely be a liability issue now. As far as I understand, there was an okay from the organiser and the health authorities."

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