Formula 1 teams have reopened their factories just over one month ahead of the first race of the heavily delayed season.
Formal confirmation that the 2020 F1 season will begin at the Red Bull Ring on July 5th is expected later this week.World champions Mercedes have resumed work at their F1 base in the UK. Renault and Ferrari, which operate both engine and chassis facilities, resumed work at their power unit divisions two weeks ago, followed by the rest of their F1 operations.
Renault’s chassis base in Britain was closed for a total of nine weeks. The team said it is maintaining “strict social distancing” and that more than half of its staff is working from home.
The majority of Red Bull’s workforce was also due to return to its headquarters today. “We are very fortunate that we are on a big site in Milton Keynes with lots of space so that we can spread people out and follow strict social distancing guidelines,” team principal Christian Horner told the team’s website.
“The health and wellbeing of our staff is of paramount importance to us, so we have taken all the necessary measures so they can come back to a safe environment. Our workforce are our biggest asset and we want to ensure they feel comfortable, they are safe and being looked after.”
Racing Point staff began returning to work on Wednesday. A team spokesperson told RaceFans the team has adopted a new way of working which “places the wellbeing and safety of the staff first”.
Haas is operating a phased return to base for its staff which began last week, while those who are able to work from home are doing so. AlphaTauri, McLaren, Williams and Alfa Romeo have also resumed work at their F1 bases.
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hunocsi (@hunocsi)
1st June 2020, 18:43
This is slightly unrelated, but the last paragraph reminded me of a question I have: a few weeks ago I couldn’t remember the name of the English base of Haas (Banbury), and when I looked it up, it hit me that their factory is actually Kannapolis in the US, but since 2017 I don’t think I heard of it mentioned so I pretty much forgot that exists. Does anyone know how they operate currently? Do they manufacture the cars and parts in the US, then send them over to the UK only for week-to-week operation? And how does Dallara work with them in the design process, do they have direct contact (i.e. travel to and from Italy) or do they work together remotely? I couldn’t find an answer to that fresher than from 2016, and I guess it might have been explained in the Netflix show, but I only watched a little of that before they were the focus.
Jere (@jerejj)
1st June 2020, 19:34
@hunocsi The Banbury-base is, of course, the one where the cars are kept and serviced. It’s the main one for the travelling race-team.
Asanator (@asanator)
1st June 2020, 18:50
They get a box of bits delivered from Dallara, a box of bits from Ferrari and it is assembled in the UK facility where the team operates out of. Not sure how much is done from the US outside of management.
Jack
1st June 2020, 19:49
“Racing Point staff began returning to work on Wednesday. A team spokesperson told RaceFans the team has adopted a new way of working which “places the wellbeing and safety of the staff first”.”
Just..how was it until now? 😶
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
2nd June 2020, 2:39
Are factories in the UK required to shut down in the event that a case of Coronavirus is identified in them like they are in some other countries?
I’m just wondering what impact that might have on the ability of a team to participate if they have an outbreak and are required to close their factory (and staff to self isolate), thus preventing them from shipping cars/parts/people etc.
I recognise that they are taking as many precautions as they can (tested everyone??) but in the UK there has been a pretty massive number of infections that would suggest that its quite possible that one or more people may be affected. One only has to look at the results of the testing of all involved in the EPL.