McLaren "braced" for Covid-affected 2021 Formula 1 campaign - Zak Brown

McLaren

McLaren "braced" for Covid-affected 2021 Formula 1 campaign - Brown

"Covid continuing is a major concern to everybody"

Sam Hall

Wednesday 16 September 2020 13:35

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McLaren CEO Zak Brown has revealed his team is bracing itself for the impact of another Covid-affected Formula 1 season in 2021.

Brown has warned coronavirus will not disappear on January 1 and that he expects F1 to again be hit by the virus, albeit on a slightly lesser scale.

“I think Covid continuing is a major concern to everybody beyond Formula 1," said Brown. "In McLaren...it has obviously been financially devastating to the world.

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“I’m anticipating some Covid impact into 2021. I don’t personally believe December 31st is going to come and go and January 1st is a new day and Covid is behind us, so we’re already braced for some Covid impact.

"Certainly not to the level, we hope, [of] this year where we stopped racing, but we realise that there could be softness in the marketplace and we are, as McLaren, well-prepared and anticipating that."

Grand Prix Drivers' Association director and Haas driver Romain Grosjean echoed Brown's assessment.

The Frenchman said: "What is the 2021 season going to look like? Covid is still in the air. It’s not like when we go from the 31st to the 1st of January it’s going to be gone. So what is next year going to be like, we don’t know so let’s see."

Should the situation return to levels seen in the early stages of 2020, however, Brown expects the paddock to again pull together and take the steps necessary to protect the sport.

“At the end of the day, if it does rise again, we will have to react accordingly," added Brown.

"But I’m confident the industry will do what we did this year, which is react as a whole because what hurts one F1 team will ultimately hurt all 10 F1 teams.

“So I think we will align again if some new action is needed to be taken to address the issue again.”

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