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Formula One has kept Sunday’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix alive by using charter planes to fly hundreds of affected members of the sport’s travelling circus to Melbourne.
Following the travel chaos caused by airspace closure in the Middle East, two chartered aircraft reportedly departed London on Monday night.
A British Airways plane, which stopped at Singapore, and a business-class only Air X flight via Tanzania, carried staff from 10 of the grid’s 11 teams as well as F1 officials to Australia.
The eleventh-hour flights were coordinated by sports travel agency, Travel Places.
The affected personnel are due to land in Melbourne on Wednesday morning, 48 hours out from the opening practice session of the season at Albert Park.
Roughly 2,000 people work at every F1 race, and it is thought at least a quarter had been due to travel to Australia via travel hubs such as Doha and Dubai.
However, the conflict in the Middle East caused hundreds of staff to re-route or take chartered flights. One leading UK-based team told PA that more than 50 per cent of its travelling staff had been affected.
China, Thailand, Korea, Japan, America, Singapore and Hong Kong have all been used as stopovers by those scrambling to make it to Australia.
However, despite the disruption, F1 bosses are understood to be confident the race in Melbourne will go ahead as planned.
A paddock insider told PA: “It is a great testament to the sport how they are able to pull this off at such short notice, and to get us to the other end of the world.
”Following this weekend’s race in Albert Park, the sport will immediately move on to Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix.
A race in Japan follows on March 29 before two rounds in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia on April 12 and April 19 respectively. The trouble in the Middle East places those races in significant doubt with F1 “closely monitoring” the situation.
It is understood that if the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia races are cancelled they will not necessarily be replaced, leaving F1 with a 22-round season and a five-week void before the next scheduled event in Miami on May 3.
An F1 spokesperson said: “The safety and security of everyone in F1 will always be our priority.
“The next three races are in Australia, China and Japan, not in the Middle East – those races are not for a number of weeks.“As always we closely monitor any situation like this and work closely with relevant authorities.”
At a preview event for the Australian Grand Prix, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said: “With the ongoing situation in the Middle East, it seems trivial to talk about sport. We watch the developing events in the region with concern and hope that the protection of civilian life remains paramount.
“With the planned tyre test in Bahrain, we have had several team members affected who thankfully have now been able to leave the country safely. With such a serious situation unfolding, it would be unhelpful to talk about the possible further impact on F1 over the coming weeks; we know that the FIA and F1 will continue to monitor events and make the necessary and correct decisions as and when they need to.”