The F1 drivers have spoken about racing in Australian GP at Albert Park circuit amid fears of COVID-19 after WHO declared it as a pandemic.
The 2020 F1 season-opener has been hugely overshadowed by global pandemic, COVID-19, as the whole paddock has been talking about the same – whether it is the drivers or teams or even media and fans as strict measures are being taken to avoid getting infected.
Questions have been raised on F1 and the FIA along with Australian GP organisers to go ahead with the event. The F1 drivers have spoken out on the media day at Albert Park as we got a mixed response, where some were blunt, some were less so.
From the time they spoke and to now, McLaren pulled out from F1 Australian GP after one member was found to be tested positive for COVID-19. It initiated emergency meetings, the result of which is still unknown to public.
But here’s what the F1 drivers spoke before the McLaren pull out:
Lewis Hamilton: “I felt OK travelling out here. Naturally, being on a flight with God knows how many people and then stopping in an airport full of so many people, I didn’t really think too hard on it. I was just trying to make sure I was taking all the precautions I could in terms of not touching things and always using hand sanitizer. I am really very, very surprised that we’re here.
“I think it’s great that we have races but for me it’s shocking that we’re all sitting in this room. So many fans are already here today and it seems like the rest of the world is reacting probably a little bit late but already this morning you’re seeing, with Trump shutting down the borders from Europe to the States, you’re seeing the NBA’s been suspended, yet F1 continues to go on. I don’t know.
“I saw Jackie Stewart this morning, you know, looking fit and healthy and well in the lift. Some people, as I walked into the paddock, some elderly individuals. It’s a concern, I think, for the people here. It’s quite a big circus that’s come here. So it’s definitely concerning for me. So, no, is your answer.
“Cash is king [for us to be here]. Honestly I don’t know. I can’t really add much more too it. I don’t feel like I should shy away from the fact of my opinion. The fact is we are here and I just urge everyone to be as careful as you can be. Touching doors and surfaces, and I hope everyone’s got hand sanitisers.
“And, really for the fans, I really hope they’re taking precautions. I was walking through and seeing just everything going ahead as normal, like it’s a normal day – but it’s… I really don’t think it is. I just hope all the fans stay safe. I really hope we go through this weekend and we don’t see any fatalities, or things that come along in the future.”
Sebastian Vettel: “I think it’s very difficult to have a fair judgement. Of course, you realise that a lot of sport, competitions, big events get postponed and cancelled and, like Lewis said, it’s fair to ask the question: why are you here? Obviously we have to trust the FIA and FOM to take precautions as much as they can, but I think the answer that nobody can give you at the moment is how much you can control what is going on. As a matter of fact, we are here. You just try to take care as much as you can.
“My stand, I hope others would agree, we hope it doesn’t get that far. If it were to get that far then for sure you pull the handbrake and I think we are a group of 20 guys and I think we’ve got together over the last years for various circumstances on various topics and I think we share common opinion on big decisions and that, I would qualify, is a very, very big decision and ultimately, as I said before, you look at yourself and we would, I think, be mature enough to look after ourselves and pull the handbrake in that case.”
Daniel Ricciardo: “Honestly, from my side, I have to put my trust in F1 and the FIA and also, I think, we may all have opinions but at the end of the day I’m here to compete and race cars. I’m not really much more than that in this situation. There’s people who are spending more time investing in it than I am and I’m kind of just following guidelines. I came here knowing we were going to compete so, to be honest. I don’t want to say selfishly.
“But I’ve just got my head down, focused on the race and I’ve been training and preparing and obviously getting a bunch of emails with guidelines and this and that but I honestly haven’t spent too much time digging into details. There are certainly people around me doing that, so yeah, it’s a tough one. I know it’s real but, as maybe Seb touched on, I don’t know who knows really, at least in this room, we don’t really know the extent of it or how quickly it can spread, or what level it’s at. It’s kind of left to the others for now. It’s mixed. The racer in me is happy that I’m here, for sure.”
Max Verstappen: “It’s of course not great with everything that’s happening at the moment, but you just try to follow the guidelines. I’m not a doctor, so I don’t really know how to handle it and stuff, but I just follow what people are telling me. That’s at the moment I think the best we can do. I personally just try not to think about it too much. Of course I’m hoping that everything will go through. It depends what people are going to decide, governments are going to decide. We just have to wait for that.”
Sergio Perez: “Of course there is only so much we can do. Obviously when you come here every day it’s like ‘the atmosphere is not normal’. We can feel that, but obviously we have to follow the advice from the authorities that guide the sport, and just try to focus on our job – because we’ve got the weekend ahead of us and it’s an important one.
“I think you cannot ignore these things. I’m a person that likes to be aware on what’s going on in the world – and you see that it’s obviously a problem. But there is only so much you can do – and I think the best you can do is to rely with these things to the people that have the power to take the decisions. And that’s everything you can do as a driver.”
Valtteri Bottas: “First of all it is really, really good to be here and racing, most likely. I haven’t heard anything other than that. So I’m not really an expert of the world situation. Obviously we as a team, we get some some updates and obviously, there’s many people monitoring everything.
“I’m sure the safety of all the team personnel, all the fans, everyone involved hear in these kind of events is is very important, and I’m sure that is being taken care of and making sure. And if there’s any further calls either made for this race weekend or others, I’m sure they’re going to be be made for a good reason. So I don’t really know what else to say, except I’m just really keen to race, we’re here to race, and if we’re allowed to and of course I’m very happy for that.”
George Russell: “As of now I’m just going about my business with the advice, given to me, as we all are, washing hands and sanitizer and all the rest. You know, keeping contact to a minimum so we have to wait and see. I don’t know a huge amount About it, I leave it to the experts and just take the advice given to me. I guess it’s a shame for the fans that you can’t interact with them.
“At the end of the day there is a greater issue at play and likewise for them. We’re all human and just being an F1 driver doesn’t mean we’re invincible. So maybe moving forward, things will change. And obviously, we all have a lot of interaction with everybody in all sports really. I respect the decision, you know. You’re not going to get an answer from me. So I think we’re all happy to change subject. You know, I’m going to give you the corporate lines here.”
Pierre Gasly: “To be fair, I’m really, not thinking much further at the moment and what’s happening tomorrow. So it’s really strange situation. There is a lot of things we could talk about. But right now I think my head is just in Australia, trying to start the season the best way we can, and trying to get a strong race. What’s gonna happen the future? Honestly, you have so many things coming out every day that, yeah, I don’t want to spend too much energy speculating or thinking about it right now.”
Esteban Ocon: “Well, it’s, of course tough question at the moment. Of course, I’m happy to be here. It’s been a lot of time that I wanted to be in this position and racing so yeah, it is of course difficult. It is a tragedy what’s happening at the moment, but I do trust the FIA, and what they are doing. I know they are capable people for health and safety for everyone.
“There has been different rules you know, they’ve been taking place, so you know we are taking precautions Of course it’s difficult to try and live normally for everybody, but hopefully we’re gonna put on a great show and that’s gonna make people forget for a bit what’s going on. You need to try and be distracted as less as possible, for sure.
“You know, of course, it’s a little bit different. There is a there is a lot less going on with the fans with how we act with them. You know, people are still coming here to see us, but we can’t really interact for precaution for them, for us, for everyone. But in the end, you know, we are here, we do what we love and, and the most important is that we try and put on a great show as I said to make people forget.”
Antonio Giovinazzi: “It is for sure not an ideal situation, especially now in Italy the situation is not really good. But for this you know I think I need a positive result on Sunday for them, you know, because they are around not in the best best situation so far. From my side, you know, I live in Monaco now so I was actually still training for one week you know, everything was fine there.
“But of course I feel really sorry for for Italy and for you know what, what happened now in the whole world. To be honest it is not a good time. So we need to, you know, continue. How we we didn’t so far, you know. Okay, we can, you know, we are here in Melbourne, we need to do our first race, and then we will see what happens.
“I have my family there. I grew up in the south of Italy. Now Italy is completely blocked you know, from north to south. But yeah, you know, for sure, it is not a good situation. I keep in touch with my family a lot because they’re there and they’re at home. So, you know, I know it’s a good point to be to be at home and don’t go out and to not race too much.”
Kimi Raikkonen: “It’s nothing to do with us, that it’s like this. I don’t know if it’s the right thing that we are here. Probably not. But it’s not up to us, it’s not our decision. I think if it would be purely all the teams’ decision we probably wouldn’t be here.
“It’s just a part of all this situation. I try to minimise the risk for everybody, it’s not just for us but also for the fans. I heard there are some people getting ill in the paddock, nobody knows what the story is on that. It’s not just for us, it’s also for the fans. We’ll see how things work out.”
Here’s news on McLaren F1 pulling out
Here’s all the details regarding F1 Australian GP