THE F1 COVID THREAD: Will GP be cancelled?

[Casper]

What will stop the series dead is when the first person in the F1 group is diagnosed positive which is probably not if but when.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by billy bleach

$80 million ?! Really?! How can they justify such numbers?!!! That would run a state of the art World beating Hospital in Melbourne for a year !!!!

Secretly!

Commercial in confidence, apparently! Could not think why.

Well over a billion dollars down the plug since the GP was moved to Melbourne.

[Mike Harte]

As last night's Italian government decree has declared the Province of Modena (where Maranello is situated) as an area of quarantine, and travel is restricted except in the cases of emergency, won't this stop Ferrari and other from travelling to any GPs in the near future?

[S griffin]

Only if the government don’t count F1 as ‘important work’

[broadrun96]

You've got to think Ferrari, and others, have to start looking at private air travel and wanting employees to limit their exposure. But how to do that without basically lockdown at the factory is tough.

I'm leaning toward more than half the season will be empty venues, non-points or cancelled now. Plus think about the support staff in order to run even an empty track. They still need to have track staff, maintenance, small amount of food services for just the track. Then the FIA required teams of safety crews, flaggers, marshals, inspectors, etc. Then the teams themselves. Even empty, the venue still had to have a couple thousand people had the run the race for just F1. Do they cancel all the support races or do we have to account for them as well pushing that number even higher. Some may be local but tracks that run Porsche Supercup have participants from all over the globe. Just closing the venue to spectators only limits a single vector, there's still paths to spread.

[Moneyseeker]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

You've got to think Ferrari, and others, have to start looking at private air travel and wanting employees to limit their exposure. But how to do that without basically lockdown at the factory is tough.

I'm leaning toward more than half the season will be empty venues, non-points or cancelled now. Plus think about the support staff in order to run even an empty track. They still need to have track staff, maintenance, small amount of food services for just the track. Then the FIA required teams of safety crews, flaggers, marshals, inspectors, etc. Then the teams themselves. Even empty, the venue still had to have a couple thousand people had the run the race for just F1. Do they cancel all the support races or do we have to account for them as well pushing that number even higher. Some may be local but tracks that run Porsche Supercup have participants from all over the globe. Just closing the venue to spectators only limits a single vector, there's still paths to spread.

Problem is that FOM don't own the venues who have paid F1 to be there and due to the restrictive business model, their only income is the paying public.

They call pull it off in Bahrain and perhaps some of the deep pocket venues, but the European circuits (for example) can't afford an empty venue and can FOM's own business model afford to refund circuits hosting fee and cover the cost of staging a race just for TV?

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[Compromised]

So Ferrari got authorization to leave... Does quarantine mean something else in Italian?

Groups of people leave a quarantine zone.

Asked a few questions on arrival at Melbourne, temperature tested. This method is know to be ineffective.

Attend event with hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world in a city that already has it share of Corona cases.

After spending an "intimate" weekend together, everyone disperses back around the globe.

Can't see how that could go wrong

[broadrun96]

I wasn't expecting FOM to make that decision alone at all. I'm not limiting the changing schedule to FOM, promoters, local government, I wouldn't be surprised to see changes come from any of those or higher powers. Especially as the season goes on.

Vietnam-likely out and decision to be made soon I'd guess.
Chinese-already done, postponed but cancelled I'd guess
Dutch-2 months is a long time given the rate from China to the rest of the world, but outlook isn't great
Spain-see above
Monaco-can actually afford to cancel or allow non-points no spectators event
Baku-see Dutch

Canada-who knows what the world is doing in 4 months but guessing worse not better yet.

[chillibowl]

Cant lose that tv money then. No choice but keep on creating new content...even at the expense of health

the lack of fans in the stands and pitlane...its going to be surreal to see an f1 race with no fans at it.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

Cant lose that tv money then. No choice but keep on creating new content...even at the expense of health

the lack of fans in the stands and pitlane...its going to be surreal to see an f1 race with no fans at it.

It will be rather like an IRL race.

[Moneyseeker]

Esports it is then, streamed live so will look like TV coverage, no travel, no carbon footprint, cheap to run and probably even some people who watch F1 will not notice much difference!

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[RWill2073]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

It will be rather like an IRL race.

[Casper]

I think the FIA have paddled up that well named creek, where do the team staff & cars etc go after the weekend? The reported avalanche of cases in Italy overnight has made the decision to run Melbourne come what may seem short sighted to say the least. Pressure was obviously applied to the Oz federal government as well as the Victorian government to hold the event and I bet a few politicians are regretting that right now. What an unholy mess they have made of this, I can see the whole thing turning into a major disaster TTTT simply because the bright people who manage F1 can't see beyond the tip of their nose and insist that the show must go on. At this rate it might well be cancelled before the weekend. Unlikely? I don't know, maybe I am a pessimist. Has anyone here know anyone who has been diagnosed?

[Purist]

The real trouble may be down the line even further.

If the habit of going to somewhere in the flesh, or following remotely, is broken, that's not good at all in the long run. That applies to a heck of a lot of sectors, not just F1 or motorsport generally.

And given that this is a "novel" infection, we could well/likely will be looking at major flare-ups for months, if not a few years, in various places around the world.

[Casper]

I wonder what the attendance will be if it goes ahead, I bet a lot of people will swallow the ticket money and stay at home.

[chavez]

Originally Posted by Casper

I wonder what the attendance will be if it goes ahead, I bet a lot of people will swallow the ticket money and stay at home.

If 80,000 plus at the MCG last evening is any indication, Corona virus isn't going to keep Melbourne sporting crowds away.

[broadrun96]

I'm guessing there's as much pressure at home to make the event go than there was from the FIA. You think ANY politician wanted to cancel and explain burning all the money at setup and costing constituents the business bump of tourism and hotels? It took the hotels and businesses of Austin complaining to city management to get a state of emergency declaration. Apparently a majority of the presenters told the SXSW festival, a VERY large festival in Austin, TX, they weren't coming and didn't care what it cost to cancel. The emergency declaration and cancellation made insurance money available to cover the business losses that would have been incurred without customers.

[Casper]

Originally Posted by chavez

If 80,000 plus at the MCG last evening is any indication, Corona virus isn't going to keep Melbourne sporting crowds away.

A very good point I hadn't considered but I think they would have broken except for the current public health issues.

[Another Bob]

Just read on in the Guardian the the Melbourne GP is a definite go.


Everybody that needs to has now left Italy and on their way.


https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...ors-organisers


It will be interesting to see if the numbers are down and if heaps turn up in face masks with a roll of toilet paper in their back packs.

[S griffin]

So it's pretty much settled that Oz will go ahead as planned. Hopefully it will take our minds off what's happening in the world

[Peter Mallett]

The trucks are already in the paddock.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Another Bob

It will be interesting to see if the numbers are down and if heaps turn up in face masks with a roll of toilet paper in their back packs.

Well, I went to the Phillip Island Hisorics just outside Melbourne over the weekend, and several thousand spectators there, did not spot one mask all weekend. It was situation normal.
I know certainly some of the competitors took their own toilet rolls along! We were going to give some away as part of our club raffle down there.

[S griffin]

Went to my local Waitrose today, the toilet roll and tissue shelves were pretty much empty

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Went to my local Waitrose today, the toilet roll and tissue shelves were pretty much empty

‘Don’t forget the Cashmere enriched toilet roll, darling.’
‘Buy 2, it’ll make us look more expensive darling’

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by E.B

Well, I went to the Phillip Island Historics just outside Melbourne over the weekend, and several thousand spectators there, did not spot one mask all weekend. It was situation normal.

Why am I not surprised (please excuse the natural cynic in me!)

This whole thing is completely OTT!