Home

F1

Williams F1 Team Boss Urges Formula One to be ‘Responsible’

Published 03/03/2020, 5:43 PM EST

Follow Us

According to Williams F1 boss, Claire Williams, Formula 1 must act in an “incredibly responsible” manner to deal with the coronavirus threat. This is especiallt in terms of committing thousands of people to travel to races around the world.

Admittedly, there is some lingering doubt over the first three races. For now, Australia, Bahrain and Vietnam have the green light. However, the sport needs to think about personnel and fan movement. Speaking at a RoKit event in London, she confessed that the situation was tricky for everyone involved.

“It’s an incredibly serious situation,” said Williams. “Being a global sport travelling around the world with thousands and thousands of people, and that doesn’t take into account the number of fans travelling as well, there’s so much movement that we’ve got to be incredibly responsible and enormously responsive as well.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Williams acknowledged that at the end of the day, all 10 team just want to go racing. On the other hand, they all have a responsibility to safeguard the interests of their personnel, especially in terms of health.

Former Williams driver Felipe Massa, who was at the event, agreed with Claire’s statement. The Brazilian veteran confessed that the coronavirus outbreak is a universal worry, owing to the uncertainty of the situation.

What else did Williams F1 say?

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

“I think it’s a little scary moment for everybody,” said the Formula E driver. “We need a little bit more information. The virus is growing, but how serious it is – the right information is something that we are still missing.”

“We see that many events have been cancelled, and maybe we will cancel many others if it keeps growing like that, so we just need to take care.”

Trending

Get instantly notified of the hottest F1 stories via Google! Click on Follow Us and Tap the Blue Star.

Follow Us

Formula E already cancelled the Sanya ePrix that was supposed to take place, because China is a high-risk zone.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

For now, F1’s first three races will proceed as planned. However, fresh doubts have surfaced about the Vietnam race with several restrictions on people arriving there from Italy.

The government advised that Italian arrivals will be quarantined for 14 days. Unfortunately, this could prove troublesome for staff from Ferrari, AlphaTauri and Pirelli if they have returned to base after the Bahrain GP.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Dhruv George

14,320Articles

One take at a time

Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
Show More>