Formula One, the first international sport to return under the shadow of coronavirus, has thus far defied the pandemic. This weekend, however, it faces its greatest challenge in going into the heart of an increase in Covid-19 cases in Spain.
F1 is proud of what it has achieved. The Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona will represent a benchmark for all sport and for F1 being able to successfully stage at least 15 races this season.
Numbers are everything in F1, driving engineering and making the difference between drivers, and since the start of the pandemic, they have become hugely important in another way. As of Friday, 24,000 Covid-19 tests had been administered to everyone involved in F1 at six meetings. There have been only three positives.
Using an expansive and rigorous testing regime, social bubbles, limiting numbers, physical distancing and strict use of PPE, F1 has proved it can mobilise a force of several thousand people and ensure they remain safe – as do the countries they visit.
The president of the FIA, Jean Todt, said: “It is pleasing and rewarding. It is in stormy seas that you see how solid are the people, not when you have success but it when it is tough. How the sport has dealt with the virus has been brilliant.”
Other sports may have slipped into complacency, with virus regulation transgressions threatened by authorities with the cessation of competition. F1 has remained vigilant and disciplined. Of the three positive cases, two were from outside the paddock and one was the Racing Point driver Sergio Pérez.
The F1 sporting director, Ross Brawn, put his family’s minds at rest with his confidence in how the sport has gone about its business. “My wife has asked me about how safe this is,” he said. “I said we should be the safest place to be at this time due to the testing and safety procedures in place.”
Only three drivers have been called into question for potentially disobeying F1’s protocols and only one actually breached a regulation. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc returned to Monaco between races and was seen with a friend outside his declared bubble. He immediately apologised and was tested. Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas similarly returned home and but remained with his girlfriend inside his social bubble.
Pérez returned to his native Mexico after the Hungarian GP to visit his mother in hospital. He contracted the virus but did not break the rules, although his judgment was questioned. He has since recovered and returns to the car at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Brawn said. “The crisis has shown the best of F1. Teams putting rivalries aside to work with us and the FIA to get a season under way in a safe and responsible way.
“Alongside that, the teams coming together to design and build breathing devices for health services has shown the brilliance of F1 to put its mind to good use and create solutions to problems.”
This has not happened in a vacuum. Personnel numbers have been more than halved, down to 1,200 from between 3,000-5,000, with teams using a maximum of 80 instead of the 130 usually required at races.
There has also been a fundamental understanding that a bigger picture was at stake. Across the teams and their supply chains it is estimated 4,500 companies employ 41,000 people in the UK alone, with a revenue of between £6bn-£8bn. Thirty thousand workers across those businesses were returned from furlough when racing resumed.
For Todt, this far-reaching accomplishment represents F1 at its best. Racing in Barcelona is a triumph against the odds. “It has been a huge effort From the national governing bodies, from the commercial rights holder, from the FIA, from the teams and race organisers. I am very proud of what has been done.”
