Formula 1 has called off its planned fan festival event in Johannesburg at the end of t🌺he month due to the ongoing coronavirus pande🔯mic.

F1 teams Mercedes, Red Bull and Renault were scheduled to take part in the event - due to be held on March 29 - with Valtteri Bottas and David Coulthard - who conducted a promotional show run with Red Bull in South Africa last year - among the drivers past and prese👍nt set to attend.

On Saturday, F1 Management confirmed the event had been postponed amid the global COVID-19 crisis but said it intends to reschedule at the “right ti🧔me from a public safety perspective”.

“Due to the ongoing global situation regarding Covid-19, the Heineken F1 Joburg Festival due to take place on the 29th March has been postponed to protect the safety of all fans and pﷺarticipants attending the event,” an F1 statement read.

F1’s director of marketing and communications, Ellie 🌟Norman, added: “Following theಌ 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 safetꦫy is paramount and w🍨hist 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 Souꩵth Africa.”

The announcement follows the cancellation of this weekend's planned F1 season-☂opener in Australia, with upcoming races in Bahrain, China and Vie𒁏tnam also postponed.