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A pioneer in so many details and a symbol of avant-garde, Formula 1 once again takes the lead in the list of great sports. The traveling caravan, much lighter than before the pandemic, has already settled on the Red Bull Ring circuit in Austria after the coronavirus health crisis, ready to set trends again. No other world-wide championship has started, neither the NBA that is being prepared in Miami, nor the Tour de France that is expected in late August, nor MotoGP and its upcoming appearance in Jerez, nor the Champions that will take place in the middle of August in Lisbon or tennis, whose uncertain future still hangs in the air. F1 returns this weekend (today, qualifying grid formation and Sunday, the race) without an audience, without a podium ceremony, with charter flights, social distancing and fewer employees than ever.
Formula 1 returns and the world listens to it carefully because its performance protocol can be used for other sports. In the mountains of Tyrol the teams have concentrated in a conclave that seems more like winter training than the start of a World for its low cost version, the absence of fans and people racking through the paddock.
Small teams of workers have been presented (usually there are 80 staff), isolated from each other, who have arrived in Austria on charter flights, most of them not related to international passenger aircraft traffic. A Red Bull Ring circuit has seen a different aesthetics than usual. The pilots do not coexist with the rest of the team in the comfortable motorhomes, mansions style, but in individual booths similar to those on site. Vettel, for example, has taken extreme precautions and instead of the usual luxurious hotel, sleep in a caravanparked in the vicinity of the track, as many of the MotoGP riders do.
The masks are set to match the outfit of the team and the press conferences by zoom or virtual with questions written in advance that a mediator translates. All paddock passengers undergo coronavirus testing every five days. They will be in Austria until Monday, July 13, as the Tyrolean track hosts the first two races. There are no guests or VIP passes for sponsors. The podium and champagne ceremony have been removed for the sake of social estrangement. In the press rooms, the few journalists chosen by F1 to cover the event sit several meters away, without the possibility of going to the paddock or the track. The organization has suggested the borrowers not to mix at meetings or dinners and that everyone lives in his bubble, only in contact with colleagues. There will be no driver presentation two hours before the Austrian Grand Prix because there is no audience to greet.
Pandemic and racism
Twelve races were canceled or postponed and the championship will surely be shorter than the 22 tests originally scheduled. Eight have been formalized in Europe until September and Formula 1 hopes to announce more races for Asia and America in the fall to conclude the World Cup in the winter.
The legend #WeRaceAsOne (We run as one) adorns the cars and the circuit with the colors of the rainbow so as not to forget that the world continues to fight a pandemic and as a reminder of diversity in a period affected by racism in the death of George Floyd. It is the triumph of the activist Hamilton, in his social aspect beyond his condition as a Formula 1 driver. Hamilton also started commanding in the first free practice sessions, with Carlos Sainz fourth and tenth in the two rounds.
Protagonist has been Vettel, who will leave Ferrari. “No offer was made to me,” he clarified. “It was our first option, but the cuts due to the pandemic have changed everything,” said Mattia Binotto, the head of the team.
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