Brawn: F1 races won’t go ahead without all teams

Formula 1 will not hold a world championship race if all teams are not able to participate due to travel restrictions over the coronavirus outbreak.

A number of countries including Vietnam, which is due to host its first ever grand prix in April in Hanoi, have imposed strict quarantine periods or travel bans on anyone travelling from areas most-affected by COVID-19.

Brawn: F1 races won’t go ahead without all teams

Formula 1 will not hold a world championship race if all teams are not able to participate due to travel restrictions over the coronavirus outbreak.

A number of countries including Vietnam, which is due to host its first ever grand prix in April in Hanoi, have imposed strict quarantine periods or travel bans on anyone travelling from areas most-affected by COVID-19.

Italy is the worst-affected European country by the epidemic, with over 2,500 confirmed cases and 79 deaths from the flu-like virus. There are concerns that Ferrari, AlphaTauri and F1 tyre supplier Pirelli - all of which have bases in Italy - might struggle to travel to races as a result.

AlphaTauri boss Franz Tost said it would be “unfair” to start the season without all teams participating, but F1 sporting director Ross Brawn confirmed this would not be the case to Reuters.

“If a team is prevented from entering a country we can’t have a race,” Brawn said.

“Not a Formula 1 world championship race, anyway, because that would be unfair.

“Obviously if a team makes its own choice not to go to a race, that’s their decision.

“But where a team is prevented from going to a race because of a decision of the country then it’s difficult to have a fair competition.”

Organisers for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix have insisted the race will go ahead as planned on March 15, and Brawn stressed F1 will ensure that any event will be carried out in a “responsible way”.

“It’s a very serious situation, so I don’t want to underplay it,” he explained. “But we’re trying to have races. We’ve got to do them in a responsible way.

“We’re minimising the number of people in the paddock, we’re asking the teams to send a minimum number of people they need to a race.”

Speaking about the upcoming inaugural Vietnam Grand  Prix on April 5, Brawn added: “They want the race to happen but also they’ve got to protect their population.

“So we’re looking at what solutions we can find to make sure everybody is comfortable with the arrangements,” he said.

“There’s a lot of things going on at the moment and it changes on a day-by-day basis. It’s difficult to be definitive now but we’re going to find solutions.”

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