Pirelli Motorsport F1 head Mario Isola re-joined his ambulance team post self-isolation as he details on his work while former Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene has joined in too.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, Isola had been working with his ambulance team in Milan whenever possible. As Italy got engulfed in the virus mess, the Italian had traveled to Australia for the first round of 2020 F1 season.
It got cancelled as Isola returned to Milan, where he had to self-isolate, but once done, he revealed in an earlier interview that he is back to work. In another interview to F1.com, the Pirelli chief has detailed on his work amid pandemic, including the difficulty with families.
Isola started his work on April 5 and has undertaken four more shifts of about 10-12 hours, while also continuing on his work with Pirelli. “It’s tough,” he said. “This virus is more critical because there is an invisible enemy. We follow additional procedures to prepare us to do our jobs, including wearing suits, gloves, glasses and masks for every mission.
“Sometimes, we know we are visiting a COVID-19 patient, other times we don’t know. We also don’t know if others in the house have contracted the virus, so as a precaution we wear all the protective gear for every mission.
“We also spend at least 30 minutes between every mission cleaning the ambulance to sanitise it so we don’t risk other patients contracting the virus. Shifts in the last couple of weeks have been tough because of the hot weather.
“It can be difficult to breathe with the mask and physically challenging when you have to carry patients down several flights of stairs because they cannot walk themselves. There is a psychological impact [for all of us working in our team].
“You have to try not to be involved too much, even if it is difficult. We try to understand the situation with the family who are with the patient, especially if it’s quite serious. If it’s not too serious, you try to give some comfort and be positive.
“It is different when the situation is serious. A couple of shifts ago, our first mission was with an elderly lady. She was 80 plus with high fever and breathing difficulties, so it was 90 percent sure a COVID 19 case.
“To take this grandmother from the family, you don’t know what to say. You try to support them but you don’t want to lie. You don’t want to say something that is not true or give them hope so it’s very difficult,” summed up Isola.
Adding more, Isola stated that he primarily drives the ambulance but can do more work as well to assist his team. The Italian is also raising funds for Croce Viola Milano and assisting the whole network in Italy, which requires support to fight COVID-19.
Elsewhere, reports from Gazzetta stated that former Ferrari F1 boss, Arrivabene, has also joined in the COVID-19 fight, where the Italian is driving ambulance to help transfer of patients. He wanted to keep his role quiet but the work has slipped to the media.
Here’s Pirelli’s Mario Isola doing paramedics work
Here’s FIA on extension of F1 shutdown
Here’s latest on what F1 is planning for 2020
Here’s insight on Project Pitlane work
Here’s F1 items to be auctioned by Bonhams
Here’s news on Bahrain circuit joining the fight
Here’s Ferrari updating on their help in Italy
Here’s how Ron Dennis is helping
