Brawn: Unfair to organize a Grand Prix without all the teams

While the spread of the Coronavirus epidemic makes the organization of the first Grands Prix of the season particularly complicated, Ross Brawn spoke about the potential absence of a competitor on the starting line. 

In the last 24 hours, the kingdom of Bahrain et Vietnam have further restricted access to their territory for people arriving from risk areas. 

This is particularly the case in Italy where the teams are based Ferrari et Alpha Tauri but also the tire supplier Pirelli, and the brake specialist Brembo, among other subcontractors. La Botte is the largest source of infection in Europe with more than 2 people infected and more than 000 deaths due to COVID-50 disease. 

In an exclusive interview with the agency Reuters, Brawn asserts that it would not be fair to maintain a race if all 10 teams in the field are not present.  

« If a team cannot travel to a country, there cannot be a race, confided the former team principal Mercedes. Not a round of the world championship Formula 1 in any case, because it would be unfair. Afterwards, if a team chooses of its own accord not to attend an event, the decision is up to it.

Now, if he is prohibited from entering the country due to a decision of the country in question, it is difficult to have a race ».

Brawn's comments suggest that a Grand Prix could take place with absentees but this would then not count for the 2020 world championship. 

Le MotoGP has already canceled its opening round in Qatar (March 8) due to entry restrictions on people from Italy, while the second event of the calendar scheduled in Thailand on March 22 has been postponed by the local government . 

Besides that, Formula 1 is still charging headlong, almost as if nothing had happened. The state of mind is not new in an environment where rumors from the world rarely reach. 

Brawn, however, assures that “ the situation is very serious, and I do not want to underestimate it. But we are doing everything to maintain the races. We must do it responsibly. We minimize the number of people in the paddock. We asked the teams to send as few people as possible ».

Reuters also reports that the FOM could charter a special plane to transport Italian personnel between Australia and Bahrain. However, the situation remains extremely fluid and dependent on the evolution of the epidemic.