In the round-up: Formula 1’s plan to test all paddock visitors for the Covid-19 coronavirus ahead of races behind closed doors will be expensive and challenging.
Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
This was an @IndyCar private series with participants exclusively chosen by them. We are not in the business of policing anyone’s private league’s for racing issues. Does it suck that he made a mockery of a great opportunity for the series and @iRacing? Absolutely.
— Steve Myers (@iRacingMyers) May 3, 2020
Not what you expect from a champion
— Zak Brown (@ZBrownCEO) May 3, 2020
“It’s just a video game” – that may be the case for some, but for others that have NOTHING, it’s an opportunity, whether it’s real life or virtual. I took this very seriously, as I should, to try and show that I deserve consideration for future opportunities. #iRacing #IndyCar
— Stefan Wilson (@stef_wilson) May 3, 2020
That race babyyyy ! Was so much fun.
More to come in the next few days, GT Races, F1 races again and lawnmower races. Yes, you read that right.— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) May 3, 2020
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Private testing plan could prove hugely expensive for Formula 1 (The Guardian)
Silverstone managing director Stuart Pringle: "It won’t be straightforward or cheap. F1 feels it needs to be clear that everybody in the paddock environment is testing negative."
Baku sets mid-October cut-off for 2020 grand prix (Motorsport Week)
"We have agreed with F1 that the race should not be postponed until after mid-October."
Arthur Leclerc dominates round one of F2 virtual racing (F2)
"Young Arthur Leclerc left his rivals in the dust in today’s first F2 virtual race at the Bahrain International Circuit. Behind the wheel of the Prema car, the Monegasque sensation claimed both pole position, and both fastest laps, resulting in a perfect score of 48 points. A first in F2!"
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Comment of the day
This week’s poll asks which championship has the best online racing series:
The 2 iRacing series, Indycar and Aussie V8 Supercars, are by far the best.
Much more realistic, and run properly, with damage factored in. Also, they have virtually all the regular drivers, with a few top drivers from other series as wildcards. No ridiculous inclusions of ‘influencers’, cricketers, or other non-entities.
I just watched Virtual F2’s first round – what a rubbish system! Lundgaard constantly going to first, then dropping to ninth or something (where he should have been), numerous time penalties, that stuff up the on-track dicing for position, but most important, the lack of penalties for suffering damage made it just a joke, rather than a serious game.
Ash Price
Happy birthday!
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Corey (@dragon86)
4th May 2020, 2:40
NASCAR will be doing one more irace before the get back to the track for real. Next Saturday, they will be racing at North Wilkesboro Speedway. This is a short track that hasn’t hosted a NASCAR Cup race since 1996 and currently sits abandoned. This past December, Dale Earnhardt Jr. lead a crew to clean up the racing surface for iracing scanners. The track will be used for the first time this week as it is currently not available to the public.
Jere (@jerejj)
4th May 2020, 7:37
Decent ambient temps are still achievable in the latter half of October, though, but yes, the earlier the better in this regard.
BasCB (@bascb)
4th May 2020, 9:17
I am sure that getting the “circus” tested and travelling will be complicated, expensive and full of hurdles. But then, not having a season at all will be far more expensive for F1, so they will have to go for it.
But I seriously doubt we’ll see many races with a hundred thousand visitors this year. Because if doing this with 1500 people is complicated and expensive, it is almost impossible with 5-8 times that amount.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
4th May 2020, 11:12
I’m not 100% convinced that not having a season will in fact be more expensive.
There’s a huge reliance on having enough races to get the TV revenues and a heck of a lot of variables that could prevent that number being hit.
Given the very widely predicted second wave, and the fact that there are some F1 countries that have Coronavirus barely under control (US, UK) and some that have no intention of controlling it (Brazil) and some that plain are not reporting properly, I don’t see that there can be any confidence that even if a couple of races do get run, there won’t be further disruption.
I’d love to see the numbers that make people so confident that we’re better off with racing at all costs (which will potentially cost teams significant amounts) and not racing at all (teams have already taken the hit and most have furloughed staff to reduce expenditures)
GeeMac (@geemac)
4th May 2020, 10:06
All these incidents from Indy prove is that simracing, while it takes huge skill, is not racing. Pagenaud and Ferruci (even with his history) would never do stuff like that in a real Indycar race, never mind an Indy 500.
S
4th May 2020, 10:27
It also shows that they are human, no different to the rest of us.
Sometimes bad choices are made, sometimes actions are not fully thought through.
Sometimes jokes and pranks just aren’t funny.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
4th May 2020, 10:28
Apparently they would if crashing was to become harmless and cheap, all the talk is rubbish.
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
4th May 2020, 11:08
My only thing with testing everyone (Which I guess would be something done at every race) is that surely these test kits are better off been used on those who actually seriously need to be tested regularly (Healthcare workers for instance).
If there is a short supply of the kits then it’s not going to be a good look for F1 to be using potentially thousands of them over the season just to get cars driving round circuits.