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The Formula 1 teams are planning a meeting in Barcelona tonight where all team bosses will be present, GPToday.net understands.
The teams are very worried about their travel schedules and also how their staff have to fly to the upcoming races where there are confirmed cases of the coronavirus, and how to solve the situation if, for example, a hotel is quarantined with team members.
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Reputation and logical thinking
The situation is worrisome for the teams due to several aspects. These include the reputation of Formula 1, but also the country that organises it.
A colleague in the media told GPToday.net: “Today we had a meeting with the FIA Media Working Group. Formula 1 brings a lot of income to a country that organizes a grand prix, but what can you, as a country, tell your people if you would bring the coronavirus as well? I don't think that's a good reputation.
“The other aspect is that certain impacted areas can't enter Vietnam and Bahrain. Ferrari and AlphaTauri may be in danger of not gaining entry to those two countries, as well as Brembo who provides brakes to Ferrari and Red Bull, among others.
Haas and Alfa Romeo would have no support for their engines. Pirelli, who is the official tyre supplier of F1, may not be able to get their staff into the country which would lead to not enough tyres being available.
“And what about Australia? They have always been very strict. Suppose someone there finds out that they're infected - this will lead to two weeks in quarantine in Australia. Then you're going to miss the race anyway and maybe even that one after that. And who else is in that hotel?
"There's a lot of questions and we're hoping to get answers within 24 hours because in a little over a week everyone will have to fly to Melbourne."
Meeting between team bosses and Chase Carey
Tonight there is a meeting involving the F1 team bosses to talk about the problems and look for a solution. There are suggestions to postpone the start of the season and see how it develops.
The team bosses will have to think about a resolution, but F1 CEO Chase Carey will also fly in to sit down with all the team bosses here at the circuit in Barcelona on Friday, after which a decision will be made regarding which route F1 will take.
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Replies (7)
Login to replyF1todayfan101
Posts: 120
I can see this becoming a significant issue...
f1ski
Posts: 726
They will have simulator racing!
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
It looks like it's only going to get more complicated. If the quarantine moves a little south in Italy all parts and people coming out of Maranello won't be able to make it to any tracks.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Indeed, as we speak the WHO has elevated their warnings one step higher. While it appears to be about as lethal as the average flu, the rate of spread is scary high. For reference, swine flu and SARS had nowhere near the same spread per week speed of the corona. I hope the Italian (and Japanese, remember there are quite a few cases in Japan, too) teams won't be quarantined, but if the WHO issues the orders to increase quarantines, the FIA will have to oblige.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
Good points. The CDC-Center for Disease Control in the US estimates that 15,000-30,000 people have died in the US from the flu this flu season. A recent article I read from a fairly reliable source said that it is expected that approximately 70% of the world population will probably get the corona virus because people can be infected for a long period of time without having any serious symptoms, unlike some of the other recent deadly viruses that showed symptoms quickly and generally killed the very sick people quickly so it was easier to contain. Japan is particularly interesting as there are so many people living in close proximity to each other. I suspect that in this modern age where global travel is so common that there are many more cases in the world at this time than anyone estimates.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
That adds up with the percentage of deaths by flu here in Sweden too (about 0,006% per year). I do wonder how the OS in Tokyo and Japanese GP will fare right now.
RogerF1
Posts: 501
All quiet since the meeting between F1 and team bosses! Where’s this going?