28/02/2020
NEWS STORY
In the first motorsport-related incident, it has been revealed that Danish racer Christian Lundgaard will miss next week's F2 test after being quarantined due to the coronavirus.
In a brief statement issued today, ART & Renault Sport Academy announced that: "Regrettably, due to a genuine force majeure situation, Danish racer Christian Lundgaard will be unable to take part in the official FIA Formula 2 tests in Bahrain from 1 – 3 March.
"Over the past week, Christian, 18, has been participating in a winter training camp in Tenerife organized by Renault Sport Academy, however he has been detained on the island following an outbreak of the Coronavirus in his hotel.
"Christian has been checked by medical experts and is fit and well and not displaying any symptoms of COVID-19, however the governing authorities have ruled all guests of the hotel must remain in quarantine for two weeks as a precaution against the spread of the virus."
The news comes at a time the virus continues to spread, and despite F1's assurance that the opening races will go ahead as planned the fact is that the final decision will probably be out of its hands.
The teams are already having to alter their schedules in terms of travelling to Melbourne, with those travelling from Italy, currently the epicentre of the virus in Europe, including Ferrari and AlphaTauri, implementing special precautionary measures.
"Coronavirus is a really serious story from AlphaTauri's side," Franz Tost told reporters in Barcelona. "We have instructed all the employees to behave in a special manner, we reduced the travelling dramatically, people coming from the red zones in Italy should stay at home. We do not want that they come to the factory, suppliers should also not visit us in the factory.
"We shall see what happens with the races in Melbourne and Bahrain," he added. "We would have had a lot of guests from Lombardy and the area and we said please stay where you are as we cannot invite you here to Barcelona just to prevent anyone here from getting the sickness.
"From the logistics side we had to change the flights as we are not allowed anymore to go via Singapore and Hong Kong and there's a lot of work in front of us."
"It is a serious issue that all businesses are dealing with at the moment," said Claire Williams, "and it is a global sport that travels far and wide so it is something we are monitoring on a day by day basis.
"It has got to that point where we are looking at all the advice that is coming out from all relevant authorities and that advice is changing day by day so it is a work in progress at the moment.
"But there are issues we facing around travelling to Melbourne and what happens with travelling to Vietnam and Bahrain. I think it is a challenge for everybody."
While F1 bosses met last night to discuss the issue, they have yet to issue any official update.