Det är nu bara en vecka kvar till F1 säsongspremiären, Australiens GP, i Melbourne. Det borde vara glädjens och spänningens tider, men det mesta snacket har handlat om premiären och de efterföljande loppen kommer att köras överhuvudtaget. Det är såklart rädslan för spridning av Covid-19, eller coronaviruset som är orsaken. Kinas GP är sedan tidigare inställt och nu har nästa arrangör av de inledande racen tagit beslutet att köra racet inför tomma läktare.
Tomma läktare i Bahrain
Det är arrangören av årets andra race, Bahrains GP, som idag (söndag 8/3) beslutat att loppet i kungadömet kommer att köras inför tomma läktare. Detta självklart för att minimera risken för spridning av ”coronaviruset” i landet.
Komplett pressmeddelande följer nedan.
In consultation with our international partners and the Kingdom’s national health Taskforce, Bahrain has made the decision to hold this year’s Bahrain Grand Prix as a participants-only event.
As an F1 host nation, balancing the welfare of supporters and race goers is a tremendous responsibility. Given the continued spread of Covid-19 globally, convening a major sporting event, which is open to the public and allows thousands of international travellers and local fans to interact in close proximity would not be the right thing to do at the present time. But to ensure that neither the sport, nor its global supporter base, is unduly impacted, the race weekend itself will still go ahead as a televised event.
Bahrain’s own early actions to prevent, identify and isolate cases of individuals with Covid-19 has been extremely successful to date. The approach has involved rapid, proactive measures, identifying those affected by the virus, of which the overwhelming majority of cases relate to those travelling into the country by air. Aggressive social distancing measures have further increased the effectiveness of preventing the virus’ spread, something that would clearly be near impossible to maintain were the race to have proceeded as originally planned.
We know how disappointed many will be by this news, especially for those planning to travel to the event, which has become a cornerstone event of the international F1 calendar, but safety has to remain our utmost priority.