Questions are being raised as to whether Formula 1 can fully see out the 2020 season as Covid-19 resurges in Europe.
Just four Grands Prix remain in the revised 17-race schedule, starting with this weekend’s Turkish GP and then a final tripleheader in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi in late November- early December.
But as some European countries go back into lockdown, and F1 also sees more cases, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff confirmed the situation is becoming serious again.
“It has been discussed in the [F1 Commission] meeting because things are getting more complicated,” the Mercedes boss said via GPFans.
“We have done very well in travelling as a bubble. We had cases in Formula 1 but they were very few only and I think we’ve reacted in the right way and in that respect, I think us going to a race track, we don’t put anybody in danger because we are there in our little micro-cosmos.
“But you can’t ignore the fact that numbers are on the rise and that it could come to a point that some countries close the borders and that obviously is going to affect Formula 1.
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“As it stands and information we got from Chase is that looks like everything is going forward but as he said as well, we don’t know what’s happening next week with those numbers on the rise,” the Austrian added.
“We have no idea either what happens in a month’s time so I just think we need to be adaptive.”
Williams has been forced to change personnel for the trip to Istanbul after several Covid-19 cases were found.
But as well as the increased risk of cases, there is also the potential impact on teams who outsource parts production and other operations if they’re forced to close.
“We’re fortunate that we do an awful lot of it in-house but for certain we do rely on some external companies for some particularly specialised processes, particularly on metallic components,” said the head of vehicle performance Dave Robson.
“That may become an added restriction and I think, probably, touch wood, we’ve got most of the parts we need to get us through the season as long as we don’t have a string of incidents.
“[But] It is possible we could get caught short on some of those external processes.”
Looking forward, despite good news of a potential vaccine on Monday, Red Bull boss Christian Horner is also wondering if F1’s plan to return to a more normal calendar in 2021 is overambitious.
“We have to remember we are in extraordinary times at the moment. Will we actually achieve 23 races? Will Covid be a thing of the past by the time we start in the back end of March? Who knows?” he said.
The other element of having what would be a record-breaking year in terms of the number of Grands Prix, is the impact on team personnel.
“It is a big ask. 23 weekends is a lot,” added Horner. “I would rather go racing than testing (but) for the mechanics it is a massive task. They obviously travel around the world but in less than optimum conditions compared to some others.
“I think that travelling to a race track on a Monday and being there for a week, that is 23 weeks away from home. It is at a point where we are at saturation and need almost a second crew. That is something we have to look at.”