New Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has insisted the sport will not seek to have its staff and competitors prioritised for vaccinations to ensure its longest-ever calendar can go ahead.
Speaking to media including RaceFans today, Domenicali said he is “totally confident” Formula 1’s record 23-race schedule will take place this year despite the pandemic.A global effort is underway to vaccinate populations against Covid-19, which is claiming up to 16,000 lives per day and has killed over 2.2 million people so far. Several cases of Covid-19 occurred in Formula 1 in the past 12 months, including six among drivers.
However Domenicali made it clear those who are most vulnerable to the effects of Covid-19 must take priority over participants in the championship.
“This is a very important point,” he said. “The most vulnerable is the priority one.
“On our side, we don’t want to jump the line of vaccination. For sure vaccination is very, very important and I would say that I’m looking forward to be vaccinated as, I would say, everyone should be in this moment.”
Domenicali said the championship will discuss the possibility of arranging vaccinations for those involved in F1 when it becomes possible.
“We are for sure thinking what could be the discussion related to that,” he said. “So if that could be possible we will for sure discuss internally about it with the teams.
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“But we need to be prudent and see and respect, of course, what is the situation with all the vulnerable people. We don’t want to be seen as the ones that are taking away that, for sure. So [we have] a lot of respect on what the governments are saying, a lot of respect [for] what the people will do.”
The new Formula 1 CEO and chairman, who took over from Chase Carey at the beginning of the year, admitted “everyone was thinking that this year would have been easier” to arrange the calendar. “And it is not.”
Formula 1 has already postponed the Australian Grand Prix, which was due to open the season next month, to November. The Chinese Grand Prix has been removed from the schedule but may be reinstated later in the year if another event can go ahead.
F1 successfully ran 17 races in 2020 despite the emergence of the pandemic. Domenicali said that fact gives him confidence it can hold even more this year.
“The proof that we have given in terms of [professionalism], structure, protocols in place has been very important to manage the situation and the reason why we are totally confident that we can achieve the number of races that are on the calendar.
Holding 23 races means running “the maximum number that we had in the history of Formula 1 in the most difficult year”, he acknowledged. “Of course, it’s a challenge. But we are confident that with the relations that we have, this can really happen.”
Formula 1 has multiple alternatives lined up if more races have to be postponed or cancelled.
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“As you can imagine we are a fluid and flexible to be ready with other possibilities,” said Domenicali. “We have already a different plan, B, C, D, A in place ‘in case of…’. Here I’m totally transparent, the things that are fixed today can be different tomorrow.”
Formula 1 is “in contact with all the organisers every day” to stay on top of the situation, said Domenicali.
“Personally I’m in line with them because all the organisers, from their perspective, they are ready to organise the grand prix either with public or with no public. They’re ready for it.
“But of course they need to respect the input from the local government on which we are very close and we respect, of course, what they decide for the country, and therefore we need to see how the things will evolve.”
He confirmed one option the series has considered is holding a second race in Bahrain, as RaceFans revealed yesterday, which would involve moving Imola’s round back by one week. This has been discussed in case the race planned for May 2nd cannot go ahead. No venue has been confirmed for that event, but Portugal’s Autodromo do Algarve was thought to be the favourite until cases surged in the area recently.
“As you know there is a ‘TBC’ date there,” Domenicali explained. “If it would have been Portugal it would have been written ‘Portugal’. The reason why it is not written ‘Portugal’ is because the situation is still not closed yet.
“Of course, as soon as we can, we will be able to announce something that. [It] will be in the next days, not in the next two months. We’re going to inform you.
“I’ve got personal meetings during this weekend to understand what is the status. One possible ‘Plan B’ for sure could be Bahrain double-racing. That is one plan. There is nothing confirmed. It is for sure of an option that is on the table for our discussion.”
Domenicali said he hopes to keep the 2021 F1 calendar as close to its original plan as possible.
“We are focusing to try to keep the calendar as it is. It is true, as I said, that we need to be ready to change. It would be wrong to say the other way around.
“It was good, I think, the move that we did together with our Australian friends to shift and to move the grand prix in November. We were adjusting dates around that change.
“And then, of course, you know that China is very important for all of us. But in this moment, we received from the government the fact that up to summertime, they are not willing to have any kind of international event there. So then we’re going to consider [bringing] back China on the 2021 calendar in [the] case there is a problem with another place that we need to change at the last minute.”
However he expects the rate of vaccinations will have a significant bearing on how many races ultimately take place. “For sure we really hope that the Covid situation with the vaccination in place will help to stabilise the situation in the second part of the year.”
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StevenHolmes
5th February 2021, 5:08
A lot of respect for the governments and a lot of respect for the people as long as the Formula One juggernaut and its bottom line “profitability” continue moving forward. It’s all about MONEY.
Erzen (@xenn1)
5th February 2021, 17:19
Well yes, it is a business and any business exists to make money. Why is that still a sticking point for people? If you want to watch a bunch of people do sports just out of passion go watch your local U13 football team.
Professional sports have got a major business factor and they mostly do exist to make money for the owners.
Aiii (@)
5th February 2021, 8:31
I mean, imagine the PR mess that would be even if they tried to do it on the DL. The world would have their heads.
BasCB (@bascb)
5th February 2021, 9:26
Very good.
The Edge (@the-edge)
5th February 2021, 9:49
It’s a bit of a non-story given vaccine manufactures have all agreed only to sell to governments
It’s not a case of won’t vaccinate staff, it’s a case of can’t vaccinate staff because you can’t buy vaccine
WH
5th February 2021, 23:13
Not all governments are resistant enough to a warping of priorities though. People travelling to countries where governments are willing to vaccinate visitors for the right price isn’t theoretical, it’s been reportedly done for wealthy clients in the UAE and India already. Hard to imagine the UAE in particular declining the favour for their friends in F1 if it wasn’t rightly such a publicly toxic proposition.
Postreader
7th February 2021, 13:37
It’s actually not that hard to get vaccinated in the UAE as a foreigner AFAIK. And Bharat Biotech is willing to sell their vaccine to private contractors abroad (if it gets authorized by said countries). So that’s one vaccine potentially available already.
petebaldwin (@)
5th February 2021, 10:56
Some footballers got vaccinated as the NHS had some left at the end of a day that would go to waste and rather than throwing them away, they offered it to the players providing they could arrive within 15 minutes.
This story was picked up by the press who reported it missing out some key information (namely that the vaccines were out of the fridge and were about to expire) and as a result, some NHS staff have received threats and all sorts…
It would be horrific PR to jump the queue Most of the teams are lucky to be UK based meaning they’ll all get the vaccination relatively soon anyway.
AJ
6th February 2021, 17:46
That he’s openly exposing that elites can have “conversations” about getting ahead of the line speaks volumes.
Pjotr (@pietkoster)
6th February 2021, 23:09
Yes, get vaccination and your safe. Now go race in a car on it’s limits at 300 km/h plus.