‘Formula 1 can’t have a race w

Image via @ScuderiaFerrari

‘Formula 1 can’t have a race without Ferrari and AlphaTauri’

Formula 1 will not contest World Championship races if Ferrari and AlphaTauri are not present in either Bahrain or Vietnam.

‘Formula 1 can’t have a race w

Image via @ScuderiaFerrari

Should Formula 1 head to Bahrain or Vietnam without Ferrari and AlphaTauri, F1 sporting boss Ross Brawn says the races won’t be considered World Championship events.

Both countries have implemented travel restrictions in the past few days, which affect anyone coming in from Italy.

Coronavirus travel restrictions

As the world struggles to deal with the coronavirus outbreak, Bahrain and Vietnam have joined the list of countries issuing travel restrictions.

Bahrain, which plays host to round two of the F1 World Championship, is “temporarily preventing entry to all foreign nationals who have visited Italy, Iraq, China, Hong Kong, Iran, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea 14 days prior to their arrival in Bahrain.”

As for Vietnam, the venue for round three, it says “all travellers entering Vietnam from China, South Korea, Italy, and Iran must carry out medical declarations and 14-day medical quarantine before entering the country.”

This could have a massive impact on both Ferrari and AlphaTauri as both Formula 1 teams are based in Italy.

It could also be a huge headache for Pirelli, the sport’s Italian tyre supplier.

No championship event without Ferrari or AlphaTauri

The other eight Formula 1 teams should be fine getting to Bahrain and Vietnam but, if Ferrari and AlphaTauri are missing, will do so knowing that the race counts for nothing.

Although the rules state that only 16 cars have to be on the grid for a race to count towards the championship, Brawn has made it clear that unless all 10 teams are present, it won’t be a championship event.

“If a team is prevented from entering a country, we can’t have a race,” he told Reuters. “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.”

F1 vows to be ‘responsible’

There are, however, calls to cancel the Vietnam race as the country shares a boarder with China, the centre of the outbreak.

Already MotoGP has opted to postpone the Thailand round of its championship, opting instead to hold the race later in the year when hopefully the virus is under control.

To date Formula 1 has only postponed April’s Chinese GP, although the better word to use would be cancelled as the teams have already said no to Liberty Media’s proposed new dates.

Brawn says F1 will be “responsible” in whatever decisions it makes regarding the safety of the teams and all those attending.

“It’s a very serious situation, so I don’t want to underplay it,” said the Brit. “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.”

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