Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko says Max Verstappen has admitted being "terribly afraid" of catching the coronavirus.

The Covid-19 outbreak is, of course, dominating the global news at the moment with almost 440,000 cases confirmed and 19,675 deaths worldwide.

In Formula 1, teams travelled to Australia for the season opener two weeks ago, but that was cancelled before a wheel was turned and now the first eight races have either been delayed or cancelled altogether.

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So while Verstappen might now be safely in lockdown at home, perhaps it's no surprise that initially facing the prospect of having to travel to races was concerning the Dutchman.

"He told me on the phone that he is terribly afraid of becoming infected," Marko told Kronen Zeitung.

As for the Austrian's response to his star driver, well it was almost exactly what you'd expect, controversial.

"The best thing is that you get it now since you are not in the risk group," the Red Bull advisor told Verstappen.

"So that you will soon be able to hunt down the world title completely immune!"

Well, that would certainly be one way of facing your fear...