Charles Leclerc has tested positive for Covid-19 and is self-isolating at his home in Monaco, his team has confirmed.
A statement from Ferrari said Leclerc’s result came as part of routine testing and that he had received the positive result yesterday.“Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow driver Charles Leclerc has tested positive for Covid-19,” the team stated.
“In accordance with the team’s protocols, Charles is tested regularly and yesterday, the result from his latest test came back positive.”
The team said Leclerc had mild symptoms and was isolating at his home. “Charles notified us immediately and has informed everyone he has been in close contact with in the last few days. He is currently feeling okay with mild symptoms and is now self-isolating at home in Monaco.”
In a social media post, Leclerc said he had had prior contact with someone who had tested positive for the virus.
“I want to let you know that I have tested positive for Covid-19,” he wrote. “I am regularly checked according to my team’s protocols. Unfortunately, I learned that I have been in contact with a positive case and immediately went into self-isolation, notifying anyone I had contact with. A subsequent test I took has come back positive.
“I am feeling okay and have mild symptoms. I will remain in isolation in my home in Monaco in compliance with the regulations set by the local health authorities.”
Leclerc is the fifth Formula 1 driver to test positive for Covid-19. Lando Norris announced last week he had tested positive after noticing a loss of taste and smell. During last season Lewis Hamilton, Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez all tested positive for the virus, forcing them to miss races.
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Notable positive Covid-19 cases in F1
| Date | Individual/s | Team/other | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18/03/2020 | One team member | McLaren | |
| 30/07/2020 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point | Missed British and 70th Anniversary grands prix |
| 08/10/2020 | Six team members | Mercedes | |
| 13/10/2020 | Two team members | Renault | |
| 21/10/2020 | Lawrence Stroll | Racing Point | |
| 21/10/2020 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point | Missed Eifel Grand Prix |
| 30/10/2020 | Four team members | Racing Point | |
| 11/11/2020 | Simon Roberts | Williams | |
| 16/11/2020 | Mario Isola | Pirelli | |
| 26/11/2020 | Jonathan Wheatley | Red Bull | |
| 1/12/2020 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | Missed Sakhir Grand Prix |
| 5/1/2021 | Lando Norris | McLaren | |
| 13/1/2021 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari |
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Qeki (@qeki)
14th January 2021, 15:22
Oh. Let’s hope the best.
stevenholmes
14th January 2021, 15:39
ONE QUARTER OF THE STARTING GRID WITH OR HAS HAD COVID….so far.
Still thinks it’s just the flu? Don’t be a dope make effort to get the vaccine. ASAP
Hope you get through this Charley Clerk
JC
14th January 2021, 18:07
Which vaccine? That’s impossible with the RNA technology, so I reckon fake news.
JC
14th January 2021, 18:10
All the same testing has been performed as with any vaccine. The long lead time is usually paperwork and red tape, not science. This time, billions has been spent speeding all those processes up.
Please don’t spread misinformation.
ColdFly (@)
14th January 2021, 18:12
Always intriguing when people counter medical research based on “ I know people ”.
Aiii (@)
14th January 2021, 19:25
lmao. In the first week in my country we had exactly two people that had the worst known side effect, a severe allergic reaction, out of like 40.000 shots total. And that’s why you have to stay for fifteen minutes so they can immediately treat you. Both people are fine, by the way, since it’s not really anything you suffer from outside the reaction.
But hey, I’m sure you “know people”
LB (@burden93)
14th January 2021, 15:50
Wishing for a speedy recovery. It’s lucky for him that it’s happened in the off-season, fingers crossed he doesn’t have longer term symptoms.
Robbie (@robbie)
14th January 2021, 16:23
Hoping he’ll be ok and so far it sounds like that will be the case.
marcusbreese (@marcusbreese)
14th January 2021, 18:50
Get better soon Charles.
I would have thought that given the chances of catching Covid are pretty high, the drivers are better off catching it now, getting it out the way and building up the antibodies – it would have a far more profound affect on their season if they have to miss 1 or several races (see Stroll, Perez, Hamilton).
Patrick (@paeschli)
14th January 2021, 20:22
Yeah that would be my ‘strategy’ as well. F1 personnel might be able to get the vaccine before the start of the season as well though.
Leroy (@g-funk)
14th January 2021, 21:07
Given that there seems to be correlation between Covid in young, otherwise healthy athletes and viral myocarditis (up to 1/2 of the study group examined appeared to be affected at some point) and that the cause of the length and severity of the myocarditis is not yet understood, and given the extreme conditions that F1 drivers place their hearts in it would seem beyond risky to purposely become infected with Covid until these complications are better understood.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/fullarticle/2770645
Postreader
14th January 2021, 21:38
Fairly common and widespread adenoviruses and enteroviruses also cause viral myocarditis, and chances are all of us has been infected and asymptomatically developed such conditions multiple times in the past. In fact, there’s a non-trivial chance that you develop myocarditis alongside *any* symptomatic viral infection, so it’s up in the air even if this sort of symptomatology is particular in some way to SARS-CoV-2.
The file drawer effect and overall issues with the null hypothesis are incredibly widespread in scientific publications these days, especially in hot research fields such as these. So… not worth obsessing over it. But feel free to watch something like the Brazilian football league, where literally every player has had Covid-19 already, and see if any of them will drop dead on the field.
Steve
14th January 2021, 23:25
While many of us may have contracted adenoviruses and/or enteroviruses in our lives, only around 10% of those infections will result in effects on the heart and an even lower percentage will have clinical symptoms.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
14th January 2021, 18:51
Critical team staff should plan when to get it, or get the shot as close as possible to winter testing to avoid getting barred from competing.
erikje
14th January 2021, 21:27
Even with a vaccin its unclear if you can be contagious for others.. So in a positive test you still will be barred
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
15th January 2021, 2:18
Erikje if you have antibodies for a patogen even if you have it there is a strong chance you won’t test positive as the patogen count is very low.
F1oSaurus (@)
15th January 2021, 8:14
@peartree I think the point is that Vaccinated people still contract the virus. The vaccine just helps the body get rid of it faster. The question is if vaccinated infected people can still transmit the disease even if they don’t show symptoms.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
15th January 2021, 12:54
@f1osaurus Sure, they will still get it and they might still test positive and be contagious but a lot less, by having antibodies they are less likely to do all the above.
AMG44 (@amg44)
14th January 2021, 19:41
Maybe just maybe they are getting covid on purpose so they can become immune from it and next season don’t miss out any race because of testing positive?
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
15th January 2021, 2:19
@amg44 that is what I was thinking. May be a great idea.
JohnNik (@johnnik)
15th January 2021, 7:21
Maybe. But patients from wave 1 have been shown to have no antibodies 5 months after recovery.
So the F1 season is probably too long for this to work.
frood19 (@frood19)
15th January 2021, 7:52
@amg44 that would be incredibly foolish for a number of reasons. Firstly, the disease can be very serious with long lasting effects, even in healthy young people. In the UK there had been a notable increase in the numbers of young people getting covid very badly in the latest wave. The long term consequences will be felt over the coming years and months, regardless of the success of vaccines.
Secondly, the immunity conferred by actually catching the disease is not something to be relied upon. There have been several cases of confirmed reinfection and a very recent study showed that immunity lasted 5 months on average (in people who developed antibodies). The vaccine should create a much stronger, longer lasting level of immunity.
Finally, getting infected intentionally would likely risk infecting others too, which could lead to them getting serious illness. Ethically, it’s a big no no.
MacLeod (@macleod)
15th January 2021, 8:18
That brings a great risk so very foolish as every body reacts different ! See @frood19 comments.
So you don’t want to be sick vaccine is much better!
Wellbalanced (@alloythere)
14th January 2021, 19:51
Those in F1 will be tested regularly, unlike many others. Thus the likelihood of detecting you have Covid, albeit you might have no symptoms, is raised.
For me however, the number of (fit, young) drivers now getting Covid is a sign of how prevalent this virus has become.
Thankfully thus far their symptoms have been manageable. Fingers crossed for the future.
Patrick (@paeschli)
14th January 2021, 20:28
These drivers also have a more active lifestyle than us mere mortals.
I’ve been working from home since March while these drivers are out there travelling the world, doing sponsor events… so not really surprising they are the ones getting COVID-19 and not me.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
15th January 2021, 5:38
Hopefully he’ll make a full and complete recovery quickly. 25% of drivers is quite a high figure although I guess that gets to be a more “Public” figure than perhaps those working in their factories etc.
Given the extremely high rates in the UK, I’d not be surprised if some of the teams factories have been impacted.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
15th January 2021, 18:18
Racing Point’s had seven known cases, four of whom were not named and may well be factory-based. They’re testing everyone every week, and it would not surprise me if all the other F1 teams had by this point established some sort of whole-team test protocol.
Dave
15th January 2021, 7:28
Don’t mention Sakhir 2020 for two weeks.
Jere (@jerejj)
15th January 2021, 7:47
@Dave Why? What does it have to do with this matter?
Dave
15th January 2021, 8:06
You know what he did to Max.