Ross Brawn has updated regarding F1 stance on the situation with Australian GP, Bahrain GP and also Vietnam GP as travel restrictions grows.
The COVID-19 outbreak has hampered everything around the globe with cancellations and postponements of events right, left and center. F1 so far only had Chinese GP which has been postponed while Pirelli postponed its 18-inch tyre test with Ferrari.
While the coronavirus was being contained in China but the recent spread in Italy and Iran has seriously hampered more events with countries putting in travel restrictions. MotoGP were forced to cancel Qatar GP and postpone Thai GP – their first two rounds.
F1, on the other hand, is poised to kick-start with Australian GP next week as the country is not limiting travelling people. But the situation with Bahrain GP and Vietnam GP is changing on a daily basis with new restrictions, especially with regards to Italy.
It not only homes Ferrari but it also houses AlphaTauri and Pirelli plus suppliers of F1 and various other teams. While Bahrain is noted to be trying for special arrangements, nothing can be said about Vietnam at this stage – but it is not certain if all will be included.
One idea being now said about is a direct charter flight from Melbourne to Bahrain for its Italian contingent with stopovers where none will be allowed to step out. “If a team is prevented from entering a country we can’t have a race.
“Not a Formula One World Championship race, anyway, because that would be unfair [for everyone],” Brawn told Reuters. “Obviously if a F1 team makes its own choice not to go to a race, that’s their decision.
“But where a team is prevented from going to a race because of a decision of the country then it’s difficult to have a fair competition. Vietnam wants the F1 race to happen but also they’ve got to protect their population.
“So we’re looking at what solutions we can find to make sure everybody is comfortable with the arrangements. There’s a lot of things going on at the moment and it changes on a day-by-day basis. It’s difficult to be definitive now but we’re going to find solutions.
“It’s a very serious situation, so I don’t want to underplay it. But we’re trying to have races. We’ve got to do them in a responsible way. We’re minimizing the number of people in the paddock, we’re asking the teams to send a minimum number of people they need to a race.”
It has to be said both F2 and F3 had their pre-season testing at Bahrain International Circuit but it didn’t finish without troubles as Prema and Trident only made it through just two days before the track running. The host nation is eyeing similar way for F1.
Here’s news on Australian GP saying F1 race is on
Here’s what Australian GP CEO said regarding COVID-19 situation
Here’s Vietnam GP updating on their F1 track completion
Here’s FIA on Chinese GP postponement
