McLaren retired from the Australian Grand Prix scheduled to open the 2020 season on Thursday night before the race after one of his team members took the COVID-19 test.
The team’s retirement marked the cancellation of the Grand Prix, which was shown two hours before the scheduled start of the tests.
After being forced to cancel nine more races due to the coronavirus pandemic, F1 will begin its season this weekend in Austria, with a set of strict procedures to prevent transmission of the virus in the paddock.
Speaking to some media outlets in a conference call Monday, Seidl expressed confidence in the new procedures, which would mean That McLaren would not have to withdraw if the check check positive check.
“I am very pleased with the plan that the LEADERSHIP of the FIA has developed, which provides us with transparent procedures on how we run the race weekend in Austria,” Seidl said.
“What is different now to Australia is that we have a clear concept of isolation of the teams, between each other. We will show up in Austria in these different groups, and we are building, in addition to that, set groups within the team.
“The policy is clear. If the symptoms evolve, we will promptly check the team member in the paddock, as well as all close contacts, so all members of this subgroup.
“We get the verification result in a few hours on the site, allowing us to take a quick resolution in the next steps.
“If someone is positive, they will have to be removed from the team and will not be able to continue. But for all those who are not affected or negative, we can simply continue.”
McLaren will have reserve staff waiting in the UK for Austria if one of the race team members is forced to retire.
All members of the race team have undergone normal tests in weeks, all effects are negative.
Seidl stated that, even with all established procedures, the nature of the virus meant that the threat of a driving force being forced to lose a consultation was persisted due to a positive verification result.
“We have to be honest, the threat is there, because at the end of the day, it’s a virus and, as we’ve seen, it can spread quickly,” Seidl said.
But at the same time, with all the measures we have now, with all the evidence of other people before we get to the circuit, and after that for several weeks, we think we will get there to Austria well prepared.
“We know it can happen anytime, that some team members are developing the virus, and then it’s important we strictly follow all the procedures we have in place.”
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