Drivers would be forced to miss sessions if a member of their team tested positive for coronavirus, Ross Brawn has revealed.
As Formula 1 kick-starts its 2020 season with at least eight races in 10 weeks starting in Austria next month, strict measures have been put in place to try and limit any potential outbreak of Covid-19.
All personnel would have to be present a negative test result before travel, while further mandatory testing would take place every 48 hours across each Grand Prix.
In addition, all teams are expected to be isolated into “bubbles” to try and prevent any spread across the paddock.
However: “If somebody comes down with the symptoms, you’d have to deal with it straight away,” F1 motorsport boss Ross Brawn said via the BBC. “We would have to isolate that group until they could all be tested.
Also Read:
- F1 CEO reaffirms races won’t be cancelled should coronavirus cases emerge
- Less able to ‘bubble’, Pirelli fears being a source of Covid-19 in F1 paddock
“If we do get a positive case then we can isolate that case and people who have been in contact with that person very quickly.
“A group of mechanics working on a car, while they will be wearing PPE [personal protective equipment], it will be very difficult to socially distance.
“But there is no reason why that group of mechanics will necessarily be part of another family of mechanics working on the other car.
“So we would have to isolate that group until we could be sure the virus hadn’t spread but the rest of the team could still function.”
Asked if that would mean the driver in the group would also have to isolate regardless of possible lost track time, Brawn added: “Yes it would.”
