Has closed. It is as well as one of the most popular sports, where each race brings together couremment more than one hundred thousand spectators, will fighting in front of the stands deserted. The health protocol for the start of the F1 season on July 5 in Austria, after several months of forced stop by the pandemic of sars coronavirus has been called “the best possible”, by the boss of the stable Haas, Guenther Steiner. A stable of second rank, who will also be facing a severe budget contraction.
“We can’t do more. This is put in place is the best possible, said Steiner during a video-press conference. We are very happy of what has been done and how they (the F1 and the international automobile Federation, editor’s note) continue to work on it.”
The measures developed by the championship promoter and the FIA provide for the absence of spectators and the reduction in the number of people on the trails (horse stables, official, security, media).
those present at the Grand Prize must be divided into groups sealed from each other. They will be regularly tested and records will be kept of their close contacts, through an application or as a declarative.
In case of a positive case, the persons concerned will be isolated and replaced.
Budget confined
Haas, says his team principal, is “not in capacity to” organize a meeting of taxiing before the beginning of the season to practice the protocols of detachment physics in real-life conditions, but “this does (the)not care at all”, its the teams that have been able to do it at the factory.
The Italian also announced that their cars will start the season without new, engine included, compared to what was expected for the inaugural GP in Australia mid-march, cancelled in extremis.
“We do not expect any development as long as we don’t know exactly what we have in terms of budget and how many races will take place, because I can’t spend money that I don’t have”, he explains.
With less races than the 22 planned and a lot without spectators, the teams receive less commercial revenues of F1 this season, but it is impossible to know what is the scale, the full schedule, which is expected to include 15 to 18 events, which has not been published.
“as long as it is not clear, I will be very careful”, says Steiner. “We don’t take the risk to plan something without having the means. It would be worse because then we cannot afford not to do the last GP.”
Transfers, drivers at the stop
The manager added that it had not asked the question of its pair of drivers next year, while the French Romain Grosjean and the Danish Kevin Magnussen are out of contract.
“The transfer market has started early with the separation of Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari (announced in mid-may, editor’s note), but it has calmed down since, recalls Steiner. We have not yet started to talk, and there have not even thought of. There were other things to settle, the pilots were the last of my priorities (…) it will be soon enough.”
Finally, the Italian position in favor of experimentation this season of qualifying races in which the starting grid is the opposite of the classification of the world championship. A way to reshuffle the cards that the promoter of the F1 had already launched last year but which has not received the support of all of the teams, Mercedes in the lead.
“I don’t see that as an advantage for small teams, but as the possibility of something new, interesting,” said the team principal of the team of america, which pleads for “try because we have had the opportunity with two GP on the same circuit (in Austria and in Great Britain, ed.)”
“If we try something new during the second race, we will have what to compare and learn,” he continues. We should not be afraid to try, no more than to say that it doesn’t work. If it didn’t work, we could always never do it again.”
