"We have to create an environment that is effectively a small bubble of isolation," Brawn tells Sky Sports as F1 steps up race return plan
Monday 4 May 2020 17:15, UK
Ross Brawn has detailed how Formula 1 is planning to create a 'biosphere' at race venues in 2020, telling the F1 Show that the paddock will become a "bubble of isolation" with personnel tested every two days.
Although the first 10 races have been called off due to coronavirus, F1 have been stepping up plans to start the delayed season behind closed doors in July - potentially with back-to-back double-headers in Austria and Great Britain - and believe they will have logistics in place to do so safely.
Asked about the proposal of a 'biosphere' environment as he joined Sky F1's Karun Chandhok, Paul Di Resta and Simon Lazenby on our new Monday show, Brawn, the managing director of F1, laid forward the sport's ideas for paddock access and transporting 10 teams around the world.
"We're working together with the FIA, and the FIA are putting together a great structure for what we need," said Brawn.
"Everyone [who is entering] will be tested, and will have clearance before they can go in. And then every two days they'll be tested whilst they're in the paddock.
"That will be an authorised authority and will be consistent, certainly for all the European races we'll be using the same facility to conduct that testing."
Brawn revealed that this will apply to all of the teams, who won't have their usual motorhomes at the races.
He added: "We'll have restrictions on how people move around within the paddock. We can't have staff that socially distance so we have to create an environment within itself that is effectively a small bubble of isolation.
"The teams will stay within their own groups. They won't mingle with other teams and they'll stay in their own hotels. There will be no motorhomes there.
"There's a tremendous amount of work going on between ourselves and the FIA and I'm very encouraged by what I'm seeing and what I'm hearing that we'll be able to provide a safe environment and we can."
F1 still hope to stage a "15-18" race season and are "increasingly optimistic" that it will start in Austria on the weekend of July 3-5.
Sky Sports F1 understands those plans centre on holding a behind-closed-doors double-header across consecutive weekends at the Red Bull Ring.
The season would then move on to Silverstone for two races without fans on consecutive weekends, while the Hungarian GP, set for August 2, will also be a behind-closed-doors event if it takes place.
F1 hopes to race in Europe through July, August, and the beginning of September, before heading to Eurasia, Asia and the Americas, and then finishing in the Gulf in December.
