Formula 1 should only go back to racing when it does not risk ‘burning’ through coronavirus tests or personal protective equipment, says McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl.
With grand prix racing’s chiefs still hoping to be able to put on a full schedule later this year, one possible way of getting things rolling would be to impose a strict testing regime to ensure anyone working at the race was not carrying the virus.
However, Seidl says that F1 needs to be cautious about the lengths it goes to in its desire to get back to business, because it needs to be mindful of how public opinion is framed at that point of time.
“What I think is an important point is the public acceptance of events happening again,” explained Seidl.
“I think it’s important that you only go back to go racing once we also have certainty when it comes down to protective equipment and that the number of tests for people are all in place.
“And, [that they] are available to people that actually need it, and that we are not the ones burning these tests or these materials, just for going back racing.
“I think there’s a big desire from people, from the public, from the fans, that especially in these lockdown situations we are all in at the moment, that sport events are happening again – even if it’s just on TV.
“But again, obviously, there’s a lot of different aspects that need to be considered.”
Seidl, whose own team withdrew from the season-opening Australian Grand Prix when one of its staff members tested positive for coronavirus, said that guaranteeing safety for team personnel was essential.
“As always, the most important thing is to protect our people, he said. “Definitely we can’t go back to racing until we definitely know that our people are safe. Then I think it will simply depend on the guidelines of our home countries, first of all, and then the travel guidelines.
“We need to see if that allows us to travel out and back into our home countries. We need to wait for the different countries to decide whether races should happen.
“And I think also, you need to see what the promoters are deciding because, especially with the changes of dates also for a lot of races, the promoters need to be up for it and it needs to make sense from the commercial point of view also for the promoters for F1.”