Pirelli infection risks a paddock-wide Covid-19 outbreak

Pirelli head of Formula 1 and car racing Mario Isola has revealed that the tyre supplier are in talks with officials over how they can operate safely once the season begins.

As the tyre supplier, Pirelli requires a presence in each of the ten garages, something that could make the issue of social distancing more difficult than it will be for the individual teams.

"I know the plan of Formula 1 to keep the teams as a 'bubble' to avoid contacts between teams. The problem is that we are everywhere," Isola told Motorsport.com.

"Pirelli is in every garage with one engineer, and we already discussed that. One question was if it is possible to allocate a space in the garage just for the Pirelli engineer, the tyres and Pirelli technician in order to avoid contact with the team."

With the movement between garages, Isola warned of the high potential of an outbreak of coronavirus if any one member of the Pirelli team become infected.

"We also have to understand how to attend meetings inside the teams," continued Isola. "I prefer if they can do that via video conference for example, because the problem is that if we have anybody in Pirelli that is positive, then the risk is that we spread the virus inside all the 10 teams, or everywhere in the paddock.

"It's a problem that is not just affecting Pirelli, it is affecting all the companies and associations that have contact with all the teams. You can think of the FIA: the FIA has contact with all the teams, for example, different suppliers, helmets, or brakes or any other component that is available to more than one team.

"So we need also specific procedures and protocols for providers that have this kind of job inside the paddock."

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