Formula 1 managed to get through two seasons despite the COVID-19 pandemic, even filling the stands and paddock at some grand prix in 2021. Now, the Omicron variant has set off alarms around the world , and worries the queen category of motorsport.
This not only affects the possibility of travel, as is the case with the Australian Grand Prix, a very complex event to carry out due to logistical problems, but strict quarantine processes are necessary and an attempt is made to guarantee safety in the event of a potential outbreak.
With a large number of governments around the planet imposing compulsory vaccination, the possibility of demanding this requirement also for all Formula 1 workers has been put on the table.
During the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Bruno Famin , the FIA’s director of operations and responsible for the governing body’s COVID-19 protocols, stated that they were evaluating the idea.
“As for what will happen next year, it is still too early, because three weeks ago we thought that the pandemic was close to ending and that in 2022 normality would return. But, unfortunately, with this new variant in Europe, it seems that everything has increased a lot, and the hospitals are full again,” he told Autosport.
“Hundreds of thousands of people are infected every day in Europe, and we have to be careful. We know that there are places, some countries and events, where compulsory vaccination is advancing, and it is something that we have to consider, but it has not yet been decided nothing.”
However, the CEO of Formula 1, Stefano Domenicali suggests that this idea has gone further, and that the FIA World Motor Sport Council has approved it so that all members working in the category are fully vaccinated.
“There are many issues to discuss with the teams,” acknowledged the Italian. “We will have a problem on how to manage the pandemic next year, and it will not be easy, but in two seasons with COVID-19, we have completed two very intense campaigns.
“Having finished a year with 22 races makes us optimistic, but cautiously, for the start of the 2022 season, in which, unfortunately, the disease may still be present.”
“It is no coincidence that one of the last things that has been approved by the FIA council, as a precaution, is to have everyone vaccinated in the paddock,” Domenicali settled.
Formula 1 was one of the first categories to carry out a campaign for the public to get vaccinated, with a video in which the drivers encouraged people with messages to raise awareness of its importance.
