Lance Stroll has revealed he tested positive for Covid-19 after returning home from the Eifel Grand Prix.
The Canadian skipped both Saturday and Sunday at the Nurburgring, with Nico Hulkenberg urgently called as his replacement at Racing Point.
Team boss Otmar Szafnauer had claimed Stroll had first fallen ill shortly after the previous race in Sochi.
But in the build-up to the Eifel race, all his tests for Covid had come back negative, meaning he could travel to Germany and was allowed into the paddock on Thursday and Friday.
However, in a social media post, he explained what happened in the days after.
“To fill you in on what happened, I arrived at the Nurburgring after testing negative in the normal pre-race tests,” said Stroll.
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“On Saturday morning I started to feel unwell and woke up with an upset stomach. I followed the FIA protocol and self-isolated in my motorhome and did not re-enter the paddock.
“I wasn’t fit to race so I flew home early Sunday morning. As I was still feeling under the weather I took a Covid test on Sunday evening.
“The next day the results came back positive, so I stayed at home self-isolating for the next 10 days. Luckily, my symptoms were pretty mild.”
Stroll would then confirm he has since recovered and will be back on track this weekend at Portimao.
“I was tested again on Monday this week and my results were negative,” he added. “I feel in great shape and I can’t wait to be back with the team and to race in Portugal.”
Commenting on Stroll’s situation at the Eifel GP, FIA race director Michael Masi denied it had identified a potential loophole, with all personnel currently being tested every five days.
“No, we don’t feel there is any loophole,” said the Australian. “The requirement for Lance, or any other attendee on that matter, there are the various time requirements to test prior to entering the paddock, and then the follow-up testing from that point.
“Based on the Tuesday test, his next test would have been Sunday morning to fulfil the requirements of the FIA COVID protocol. So that one is quite simple.
“With regards to Lance feeling ill, like any other driver, it’s incumbent upon the driver and the competitor, in this case, Racing Point, to determine if they feel that their driver is not up to the capacity to drive the car, which they obviously did and chose to do.
“From the requirements within Appendix S [of the FIA’s COVID protocols], it’s incumbent upon Racing Point as the stakeholder in this case and Lance himself as an attendee to declare within the parameters of the protocol if they are having any of those requirements, and then there is the requirement from there to report.
“None of that has been reported to the FIA, so there’s nothing further from our perspective at this point in time.”
