Formula 1 modified its rules against COVID-19 before the start of the 2022 season, with a large number of changes, including mandatory vaccination for drivers, teams, journalists and all those who want to be part of the Great Circus on-site .
While last year a negative PCR test was still sufficient to gain entry into F1, vaccination was now required. In this way, anyone who is not vaccinated is totally prohibited from accessing the paddock… And it doesn’t matter if you have been world champion or not!
In the specific case of Nico Rosberg, the former Mercedes driver assures that he has not yet been vaccinated because he was infected with COVID-19 and upon recovering without problems, he has sufficient antibodies, although that does not seem to be enough.
“I have recovered from the COVID-19 disease, and as a result, I have incredible antibodies. I also get regular antibody tests. In these very specific circumstances, my doctor advised me that vaccination would not make sense,” he explained. the 2016 F1 title winner in a statement to F1-Insider.com .
Rosberg should be present at all or most Formula 1 races to carry out his job as a television commentator for Sky Sports , but at the moment he is doing it remotely, from home.
Curiously, it is not the first time that not even being world champion frees Nico Rosberg from the punishment of not being able to enter F1. The other occasion was in 2019, and it was for a punishment after improper behavior at the Chinese Grand Prix, where he broke the rules.
There, Rosberg allowed the cameraman he used for his videos on social networks to access the starting grid, leaving him his world champion pass (which Liberty had given him), skipping one of the strictest rules that are signed when picking up the document of accreditation.
The punishment then was to miss two races (in Baku and in Spain), although he was able to return for the rest of the year until in 2022 he has once again decided that the law does not go with him.
The German, who contested 206 grands prix between 2006 and 2016, with 23 wins, 30 pole positions and 57 podiums, has a lifetime pass to enter the F1 paddock for having been world champion. However, for the time being, you will not be able to use it and it will continue to be so until you prove that you have been vaccinated or, on the contrary, until the current rules change.
Nico Rosberg on a bike at Circuit Zandvoort in 2021
