Marko: Politicians guilty of scaremongering over coronavirus

Martin Macdonald
Tuesday 10 March 2020 09:09

Red Bull boss Helmut Marko has slammed the “scaremongering” by politicians with regards to the coronavirus outbreak, and has played down concerns about how it will affect the rest of the 2020 F1 season.

Worldwide, over 4,000 people have died due to the flu-like virus, which has impacted events all over the world, with the Chinese Grand Prix cancelled and the Bahrain GP set to go ahead with no fans in attendance.

In Italy, a lockdown is now in place as residents have been asked to stay in their homes, while all Serie A football has been postponed for a month.

This affects Ferrari’s preparations for the upcoming F1 season, too, but Marko says Australia, where the first GP takes place this weekend, is fine.

“The situation in Australia seems to be quite normal,” the Red Bull advisor told Speedweek.

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“Bahrain has never had many spectators, but that event is not a problem either.

“I think we have to make a statement. This virus, which by no means has the danger that is being hysterically portrayed, can destroy public life.”

He believes there has been a massive overreaction worldwide to the outbreak.

“I think the whole discussion has been blown up,” the Austrian continued.

“It is like a flu. For the most part, people are dying of old age with pre-existing diseases.

“Look up how many people get the flu each year. The problem is the quarantine. The danger of the disease is no worse than the flu.

“We need to counter the scaremongering of the politicians and not support them. We need to think positively and assume that the grands prix will go ahead fairly normally.”

The Australian GP is scheduled to go ahead on Sunday.