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VIDEO | COVID-19 One Year On - How has Formula 1 Changed?
It is exactly one year since the Australian Grand Prix was cancelled due to the coronavirus, setting in motion the craziest 12 months the sport has ever seen. We’ve all had to adapt and the sport has been no different so we thought we’d take a look at what’s changed, how the drivers have been affected and what we could see happen this season!
What happened?
We are currently halfway through pre-season testing, but rewind 12 months, and the start of the season in Melbourne was looming despite concerns about the coronavirus circulating weeks earlier. Sport around the world was dropping like flies, but it took until just hours before FP1 and a McLaren team member to test positive before the season was postponed. At the time we had no idea what would happen next but we certainly didn’t expect to start the season in July.
The season was immediately put on hold and it was clear the year was going to be very different. We eventually started the season in Austria on July 2nd but the calendar wasn’t even set in stone when we returned to action. We had back-to-back races at the same track including two at Silverstone, new tracks and old tracks were introduced to fill the gaps, Istanbul Park, Portimao in Portugal, and Imola to name a few, as well as a race on the outer loop in Bahrain.
It wasn’t just the calendar that changed, much like football, cricket and rugby to name a few, F1 was forced to introduce the biosecure bubbles. The team members had to test negative for the virus before being allowed into the paddock and face masks became a common sight at each race. The majority of the season was raced behind closed doors so no fans!
The Drivers
The biosecure bubbles didn’t guarantee 100% success. There were some cases that slipped through but on the whole, they worked quite well. Sergio Perez was the first driver to test positive just before the British Grand Prix and he missed the doubleheader at Silverstone. He was replaced by Nico Hulkenberg who was back in action at the Nurburgring after he replaced the ill Lance Stroll. His positive result was confirmed a few days after the race.
Lewis Hamilton was the last driver mid-season to test positive and he missed the crazy Sakhir Grand Prix, which gave George Russell a chance to shine. Since the end of the season Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris have tested positive but thankfully all the drivers made full recoveries.
What could come next?
The season was hit before it had begun. The Australian Grand Prix was moved to later in the year and there’s no place on the calendar for China.
The latest update in this saga comes on the vaccine front. Jabs are being distributed to people around the world as we speak but organisers in Bahrain have actually offered the vaccine to team members working at the season opener in Sakhir. Not too much is known on that front but we don’t think it is compulsory. Imola and Potimao have both been welcomed onto the calendar, hosting the second and third races of the season, although that isn’t entirely due to covid.
Unfortunately, for now, it looks like racing will be behind closed doors, and the biosecure bubble talk will go on for some time we imagine, however, with the vaccines being rolled out it looks as if there’s light at the end of the tunnel.
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