F1 will not cancel any races from the revised calendar even if a team opts out or a driver gets diagnosed with Coronavirus midst the races.
Formula 1 has revealed that it will not go onto cancelling races if a driver is found positive of the Coronavirus in process. Earlier season’s first race- the Australian GP was cancelled after a team member of McLaren was found Coronavirus positive.
However Formula 1 chairman and CEO Chase Carey said today a similar scenario should be avoided in the event that a positive test occurs when the championship resumes next month.
“An individual having been found with a positive infection will not lead to a cancellation of a race,” he told the official F1 website. “We encourage teams to have procedures in place so if an individual has to be put in quarantine, we have the ability to quarantine them at a hotel and to replace that individual.
“Some things we’d have to talk through and work through. The array of ‘what ifs’ are too wide to play out every one of them, but a team not being able to race wouldn’t cancel the race.
“I don’t think I could sit here and lay out the consequences. But we will have a procedure in place that finding infection will not lead to a cancellation. If a driver has an infection, [teams have] reserve drivers available.”
On Tuesday, F1 announced its revised calendar for the 2020 and listed Austrian GP to be the first race ever since all sporting events were suspended by most of the countries.
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As of now, the idea is to organize all Grand Prix behind the closed doors, but the officials are planning to bring in audiences once the situation improves drastically.
