The organisers of the F1 Bahrain GP has announced that the 2020 event will be a closed door event with only participants allowed to enter the circuit.
As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to play havoc around the globe, the promoters of the Bahrain GP has decided to hold its 2020 F1 grand prix as a closed door event with just participants allowed to enter the circuit after they halted ticket sales.
Already as a measure they did that earlier in the week but the new directive has eliminated any chance of fans being allowed as the Health Ministry is not taking any chances with a health scare. The cases in Bahrain is not high but numbers have grown steadily.
It is not clear if selected or all media will be allowed. FormulaRapida.net has applied for the pass to attend the Bahrain GP but so far the FIA hasn’t approved it. The new measures could limit personnel in the paddock, whether for teams, officials or media.
The statement from Bahrain GP goes:
“In consultation with our international partners and the Kingdom’s national health Taskforce, Bahrain has made the decision to hold this year’s Bahrain Grand Prix as a participants-only event.
“As an F1 host nation, balancing the welfare of supporters and race goers is a tremendous responsibility. Given the continued spread of Covid-19 globally, convening a major sporting event, which is open to the public and allows thousands of international travellers and local fans to interact in close proximity would not be the right thing to do at the present time.
“But to ensure that neither the sport, nor its global supporter base, is unduly impacted, the race weekend itself will still go ahead as a televised event. Bahrain’s own early actions to prevent, identify and isolate cases of individuals with Covid-19 has been extremely successful to date.
“The approach has involved rapid, proactive measures, identifying those affected by the virus, of which the overwhelming majority of cases relate to those travelling into the country by air.
“Aggressive social distancing measures have further increased the effectiveness of preventing the virus’ spread, something that would clearly be near impossible to maintain were the race to have proceeded as originally planned.
“We know how disappointed many will be by this news, especially for those planning to travel to the event, which has become a cornerstone event of the international F1 calendar, but safety has to remain our utmost priority.”
The news comes after stringent measures from Italian Government overnight, who have pushed parts of Northern region under severe lockdown, which affected Ferrari directly along with Pirelli and Dallara, with AlphaTauri not far off from the region.
Here’s what Italian Government has planned which could affect F1 and MotoGP
