General
Marko: "Without this approach, the season would have been doubtful"
- GPblog.com
Helmut Marko and Red Bull played a major role in the start of the Formula 1 season after the race in Australia was cancelled and it came to a standstill for a long time. This weekend we are going to see how Formula 1 copes with the changed conditions, with the sport travelling like a bubble. This in order to rule out the spread of the virus, but also to guarantee safety to the Austrian inhabitants.
Security
Formula 1 had to draw up a safety concept containing all kinds of protocols to guarantee safety. This should then be able to be universally applied to different countries, because there are of course more locations where racing takes place than in Austria. The biggest obstacle that Marko had to take is being able to guarantee safety.
Auto, Motor und Sport quotes: "In the beginning there was already the fear, also among the population, that something could be brought in again from Italy. We had to take this fear away from the people and show that there was no negligence." One of the measures taken by Formula 1 is to impose stricter rules on itself.
"Our measures are much stricter than those in Austrian public life. In case negative tests would not have been sufficient as a condition for feasibility, we even thought about a quarantine concept. Then we would have had to go on holiday every two weeks in beautiful Austria."
Restriction
With these rules, Marko will be pretty limited in his freedom of movement, so he will be stuck in a hotel for some time to come. "I have to stay at the hotel in Spielberg. It's the first time I can't go back to Graz. I'm not even allowed to talk to our Formula 2 and Formula 3 drivers because they are in a different bubble."
The whole world of motor racing will be looking forward to this weekend, as Formula 1 will show whether all the measures work or not. Marko argues that if it had not been done this way, the season would probably have been a lot more uncertain.
"The first two races in Austria are the model event for the rest of the season. This has to work. If it works for us, then chances are that the season will go well. If we hadn't put it that way the rest of the season would have been doubtful," said Red Bull Racing's team advisor.