Teams place staff in quarantine until March 29

Jamie Woodhouse
Australian GP PA

Australian GP PA

Following the McLaren incident, teams will have no workers in their factories until March 29, and they will go into self-selected quarantine upon their return.

After a member of the McLaren team tested positive for coronavirus ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, the team promptly announced their withdrawal from the event.

Ultimately the race weekend would be cancelled with McLaren placing a further 14 members of staff in self-isolation who had been in contact with that employee.

Auto Motor und Sport report that doctors have confirmed there is no direct danger of that employee infecting others who were in the paddock in Melbourne.

But it has been announced that teams have voluntarily agreed that their staff will not work at the factories until March 29, and upon their return they will go in to self-selected quarantine.

Alfa Romeo are taking further precautions with team manager Beat Zehnder confirming “we won’t start work until Monday, March 30th.”

The report also states that the Bahrain and Vietnam GPs have been cancelled too, while holding a race in Europe will be impossible under the current conditions.

Once Ferrari and AlphaTauri return to their bases in Italy, they will be “trapped” due to the strict quarantine rules currently in place.

The cancelled races could reportedly be rescheduled to happen during the summer break, while there is also talk of the season carrying on into 2021.

Either way all this will have a major impact on the revenue, for teams, Formula 1 and all stakeholders.

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said: “At a Grand Prix, which pays more than 25 million dollars, we lose money. This means that the loss is outweighed by the saving not to drive.”

Racing Point CEO Otmar Szafnauer added: “We expect the pot to be distributed will be smaller.”

Follow us on Twitter @Planet_F1 and like our Facebook page.

coronavirus