GP Racing - UK (2020-04)

FINISHING STRAIGHT

THE FINAL LAP

Intercontinental GPs have

long lead times. The tyres and

much ofthe track infrastructure

are transported by sea. It’s an

intense logisticalexercise. And as

thewheelsbegantoturnaheadof

the 2020 season, the prevailing

belief among governments

worldwide, let alone sporting

authorities and promoters, was COVID-19 could be contained.

Colleagues attending the Ferrari launch in Italy in mid-February

were temperature-scanned on arrival in Bologna airport. No such

precautions were in place in many other European airports at that

time. It wasthe v irulence with whichCOVID-19 spread around Italy

in early March that changed theworldwide consensus at government

level: the virus couldn’t be contained, only delayed.

But as the clock ticked by towards the start of the season, the

strategy of F1 as a whole remained predicatedupon a form of

containment –that if the virus could be kept outside the ‘bubble’,

the show could and would go on. The flaw in

that strategywas exposed when a McLaren

team member tested positive forCOVID-19

on the Wednesday of race week. It was

already inside.

In hindsight, yes, it’s easy to highlight

the foolishness of believing that 1500-odd

people could travel across the world, the

majority of them in cramped economy-

class cabins, without being exposedto the

virus if they hadn’t already. But atthe time

there were still those who thought it was

a giant fuss over nothing. Popular opinion

was polarised between those engaging in

fist fights with each other over 48-packs of

Andrex and those who insisted that going

through acoronavirus infection was no

worse than a dose of ‘man flu’.

F1 stillthinks the seasoncan begin ,

thoughit doesn’tkno w when. But what

happensthen? People– even if only

essential staff – will still needto a ttend such

races as appear onwhat will be a truncated

calendar. COVID-19 isn’tgoing to obligingly

vanish fromthe scenein the coming months

and years. COVID-19will change theway

we work, how weinteract, howwe travel.

Pretendingit isn ’t going to bea proble m

is how wegot into this messin the firstplace.

Hindsight isindubitably themost precise

of all the forensic sciences, and certainly in the

wake of the Australian GP’s cancellation there

were those who heaped scorn on Formula 1

for persisting until the very last minute. Was it

wrong? Or are the wise-after-the-fact brigade

simply barking their opinions from atop a wobbly

ivory tower constructed from panic-bought

economy-grade toilet roll?

Questions were already being asked during

pre-season testing in Barcelona about the wisdom

of carrying on regardless. Not a single media

‘scrum’ went by without the victim being duly

interrogated about COVID-19. And the response

was uniformly to bat responsibility on to the FIA

and F1 itself: “They will look after us,” said Haas

team principal Guenther Steiner when asked if he

was confident about even getting his personnel

and equipmentto Me lbourne. “Theproblem is

if we get stuck there...” It would soon become

apparent that thislatter point was one not many

in authority had dwelled on.

The problem was that fundamentally the FIA

and F1’s hands were tied by the same intertwined

issues: responsibility and money. Until the

Australian health authorities were prepared to

step in and insist events such as the Grand Prix

not go ahead, whoever cancelled it would end up

bearing the loss of the substantial sanctioning fee.

Regardless of the various stakeholders’ insistence

that they put the health and safety ofparticipants

first, this large sum of moneywas at the very least

neck-and-neck in that particular list ofpriorities.

AUSTRALIA:

WAS IT SUCH A

DIFFICULT CALL?

PICTURE

:JOHN

TO

SCANO

.ILLUSTRATION

:BENJAMIN

WA

CHENJE

@CoddersF1

PICTURES

106 GP RACING APRIL 2020

STUART CODLING

FLAT

CHAT

{ {

FULLTHROTTLE

MUSINGSWITH

Thecontainerswere

unloadedinMelbournebut

nocarsranonthetrack

COVID-19 WILL

CHANGE THE

WAY WE WORK,

HOW WE INTERACT,

HOW WE TRAVEL

GPRacingnowhasapodcast!

Search for ‘Flat Chat with Codders’ in

your podcasting platform of choice.

FINISHING STRAIGHT

THE FINAL LAP

Intercontinental GPs have

long lead times. The tyres and

much ofthe track infrastructure

are transported by sea. It’s an

intense logisticalexercise. And as

thewheelsbegantoturnaheadof

the 2020 season, the prevailing

belief among governments

worldwide, let alone sporting

authorities and promoters, was COVID-19 could be contained.

Colleagues attending the Ferrari launch in Italy in mid-February

were temperature-scanned on arrival in Bologna airport. No such

precautions were in place in many other European airports at that

time. It wasthe v irulence with whichCOVID-19 spread around Italy

in early March that changed theworldwide consensus at government

level: the virus couldn’t be contained, only delayed.

But as the clock ticked by towards the start of the season, the

strategy of F1 as a whole remained predicatedupon a form of

containment –that if the virus could be kept outside the ‘bubble’,

the show could and would go on. The flaw in

that strategywas exposed when a McLaren

team member tested positive forCOVID-19

on the Wednesday of race week. It was

already inside.

In hindsight, yes, it’s easy to highlight

the foolishness of believing that 1500-odd

people could travel across the world, the

majority of them in cramped economy-

class cabins, without being exposedto the

virus if they hadn’t already. But atthe time

there were still those who thought it was

a giant fuss over nothing. Popular opinion

was polarised between those engaging in

fist fights with each other over 48-packs of

Andrex and those who insisted that going

through acoronavirus infection was no

worse than a dose of ‘man flu’.

F1 stillthinks the seasoncan begin ,

thoughit doesn’tkno w when. But what

happensthen? People– even if only

essential staff – will still needto a ttend such

races as appear onwhat will be a truncated

calendar. COVID-19 isn’tgoing to obligingly

vanish fromthe scenein the coming months

and years. COVID-19will change theway

we work, how weinteract, howwe travel.

Pretendingit isn ’t going to bea proble m

is how wegot into this messin the firstplace.

Hindsight isindubitably themost precise

of all the forensic sciences, and certainly in the

wake of the Australian GP’s cancellation there

were those who heaped scorn on Formula 1

for persisting until the very last minute. Was it

wrong? Or are the wise-after-the-fact brigade

simply barking their opinions from atop a wobbly

ivory tower constructed from panic-bought

economy-grade toilet roll?

Questions were already being asked during

pre-season testing in Barcelona about the wisdom

of carrying on regardless. Not a single media

‘scrum’ went by without the victim being duly

interrogated about COVID-19. And the response

was uniformly to bat responsibility on to the FIA

and F1 itself: “They will look after us,” said Haas

team principal Guenther Steiner when asked if he

was confident about even getting his personnel

and equipmentto Me lbourne. “Theproblem is

if we get stuck there...” It would soon become

apparent that thislatter point was one not many

in authority had dwelled on.

The problem was that fundamentally the FIA

and F1’s hands were tied by the same intertwined

issues: responsibility and money. Until the

Australian health authorities were prepared to

step in and insist events such as the Grand Prix

not go ahead, whoever cancelled it would end up

bearing the loss of the substantial sanctioning fee.

Regardless of the various stakeholders’ insistence

that they put the health and safety ofparticipants

first, this large sum of moneywas at the very least

neck-and-neck in that particular list ofpriorities.

AUSTRALIA:

WAS IT SUCH A

DIFFICULT CALL?

PICTURE

:JOHN

TO

SCANO

.ILLUSTRATION

:BENJAMIN

WA

CHENJE

@CoddersF1

PICTURES

106 GP RACING APRIL 2020

STUART CODLING

FLAT

CHAT

{ {

FULLTHROTTLE

MUSINGSWITH

Thecontainerswere

unloadedinMelbournebut

nocarsranonthetrack

COVID-19 WILL

CHANGE THE

WAY WEWORK,

HOW WE INTERACT,

HOW WE TRAVEL

GPRacingnowhasapodcast!

Search for ‘Flat Chat with Codders’ in

your podcasting platform of choice.