F1 Joburg Fan Festival Postponed - all you need to know.

PHOTO CREDIT: Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport.

Formula 1 has today announced that due to the ongoing global situation regarding COVID-19 (coronavirus) the Heineken F1 Joburg Festival due to take place on 29 March has been postponed "to protect the safety of all fans and participants attending the event."

Formula 1, together with Heineken, SAGP, and the Gauteng Province are committed to bringing the event to South Africa and any decision on rescheduling will be made at the right time from a public safety perspective.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport's Valtteri Bottas, as well as former F1 driver David Coulthard, and Renault F1 Team were set to attend the F1 Fan Festival.

Due to the global outbreak of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) the 2020 Formula 1 season-opener in Australia was canceled after a McLaren team member tested positive for the virus. Formula 1 also announced the postponement of the Bahrain and Vietnam Grand Prix citing that the 2020 season could start at the end of May. 

"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," Ellie Norman, Director of Marketing & Communications said. "Our fans health and safety is paramount and whilst 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."

Warren Scheckter, CEO of SAGP added that "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."

All fans who purchased tickets for the event will be offered a full refund. Tickets can be returned at any Shoprite, Checkers, Checkers Hyper, Computicket outlets or House & Home stores for full refunds until April 13, 2020.

All 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.

For all ticket queries, contact COMPUTICKET on 0861 915 8000

Written By - Junaid Samodien.