THE F1 COVID THREAD: Will GP be cancelled?

[bella]

Originally Posted by RWill2073

How is this unlike many workplaces, though? Pretty much all industries that are allowed to open, (and more that would like to) are doing a version of this.

Theres government advice.
Theres a corporate policy.
Theres new and adapting guidelines at each facility.
Then theres task forces within facilities, department rules being adapted to the situation, new rules for dealing with suppliers/vendors. Even with suppliers from different countries.

All of this is not unique to motorsport. You don't have to convince me that motorsport should be running right now. I think they could have been earlier! But this applies to pretty much any industry. If motorsport can open, so should every type of work. I don't question whether this is being planned out properly. But even in response to your bolded line, someone from a totally different industry has posted how tightly regulated, or careful his industry is being.

yes and no. i get your point about there being several levels of nonsense in any larger company, but by and large if a company is that big it's a fluid health and safety discussion. motorsport is going through rigorous entirely separate procedures at each and every level, and it'll be enforced more strictly than your average workplace because there's three different sets of people trying to make sure you stay safe - the circuit, the organisers and your boss.

in my current non-motorsport key worker uber-health and safety obsessed place nothing has changed at all. i don't have to fill in medical paperwork every week, i won't get my temperature taken nor do i have to wear a mask all day every day. there's notices around about cockups at different sites telling people not to do the same thing but nothing about covid.

[ascarracinguk]

Originally Posted by Casper

It is a fairly surreal feeling I have about the whole thing to tell the truth. Here I sit with my life barely changed at all and others are in the midst of chaos, suffering and in a lot of cases death. Oz has had a total number of deaths from this insidious disease of just 100 people as of this morning and I was shocked to see what the death rate was in the UK when I last looked. My view point cannot posibly be anywhere near those of you who are in the middle of it all, stay safe is all I can say.

Tbh im in the UK and its the same feeling.

Ive continued to work, had 2 pay rises this year, live in the countryside so have access to open fields....apart from increasing hygiene, social distancing, no sport on TV and not being able to go to the pub nothing has changed for me so far....and I don't feel in an unsafe position in terms of catching COVID19

I find it utterly bizarre and am utterly grateful/ count myself insanely lucky at the same time, especially when one of my closest friends has lost his job as an airline pilot twice in one year with Thomas Cook and now Virgin, and is currently stuck in a flat in a city centre.

Just shows the gulf this virus has created.

[bella]

Originally Posted by ascarracinguk

I think Motorsport...and sport in general along with the Construction industry are in a very different position to and held to a higher standard than other sectors, which are behind closed doors like offices etc.

Visibility and the negative impact of being so visible to the average joe means that these sectors have to go above and beyond what is required to ensure there isn't any negative publicity and therefore impact upon its revenue stream.

Its so easy for someone to send up a drone (and they have been doing) to video construction sites, sports grounds etc to see if people are sticking to rules and sell their 'dirt' to the media....so I would expect, and have first hand knowledge of the extra things being put in place so that we don't fall foul of this.

absolutely - the motorsport uk advice document mentions the need for corporate responsibility. i'm not sure about construction, but in motorsport at the serious money level discipline and presentation are second nature, so it's not too hard for us to include new instructions in our autopilots about cleaning everything repeatedly and doing things strictly by the rulebook.

i'm not even sure we have to go above and beyond. based on my experience of two big workplaces during lockdown - and hell, even at the supermarkets - our industries just need to do what they're told and comply with the rules. there's no need to go above and beyond because everybody else is setting the bar incredibly low by not complying!

[bella]

Originally Posted by Casper

It is a fairly surreal feeling I have about the whole thing to tell the truth. Here I sit with my life barely changed at all and others are in the midst of chaos, suffering and in a lot of cases death. Oz has had a total number of deaths from this insidious disease of just 100 people as of this morning and I was shocked to see what the death rate was in the UK when I last looked. My view point cannot posibly be anywhere near those of you who are in the middle of it all, stay safe is all I can say.

double post, but.

the only way i can explain the narration going on in the uk is it's like a bushfire. you follow advice on that, right? nobody's daft enough to confuse "get out" with "nah stay put, you're fine". meanwhile here people have been saying "you told my grandma to flee. but we're going to make her stay because i think she's fireproof". or "we've been told it's too late, we're surrounded by fire and we need to take cover. can i still put my kids in the car and drive through it?".

thankfully we're through the worst so now's apparently the time to blame the government for other people not doing what they've been told and respecting authority... it's insane.

needless to say, any industry where people can be kept safe via a few workflow changes has to return to work. childcare's going to take some trial and error, and i think some families may need to make some tough decisions but don't we all, one way or another?

[S griffin]

Let's see. I feel we have done well through this. But it was not always going the right way. We can't really compare it any other event, unless you have experienced something similar. I think we can't take things for granted. It's not the end of the world. And it has got better. But we can still ask questions of this government and whether they did right at the right time.

We'll see things pick up again. We might need to have a few provisions in place, especially with kids. But it'll soon be back to like it was before

[chillibowl]

as a keyboard warrior i cant comment with any first hand knowledge about how effective motorsports' protocols will be, but surely it will not be a simple as just having the right plan on paper.

things will need to be tried out, what seems like a great idea on paper may have to be modified for use in the real world, practical experience may highlight shortcomings, new people will have to be hired and/or existing employees will have new responsibilities, people are people and dont always follow rules etc etc.

that said, i can appreciate that there will be, like all things, a learning curve to reopening in the new reality.

im not against things reopening and i understand that different people will have different assessments of risk levels but how this virus spreads is not fully understood yet, different regions may have different strains, immunity may not be possible, long term effect it may have on young people who may never even show symptoms etc etc.

so if there are still unknowns how can anyone to claim they have a viable plan...at most they have, to the best of their knowledge, developed protocols to limit the risk as much as possible right?

personally, i dont think support races should take place at the same time as an F1 race. maybe in time once the system gets set up properly but at this time it seems odd to me to complicate matters further with its inclusion.

it is another variable/more people and teams but any event that involves teenagers/minors should be held to a higher standard then adult work places imo. i think any plan that doesn't separate the feeder series is taking an unnecessary chance which imo compromises the integrity of the protocols.

perhaps there is another rational/economic reasons to include the support races that i am not familiar with though.

[Moneyseeker]

Culture Secretary doing the government briefing today - announces task force to look at how live sport, cultural events, etc can restart - no mention of BGP specifically.

[billy bleach]

Originally Posted by Moneyseeker

Culture Secretary doing the government briefing today - announces task force to look at how live sport, cultural events, etc can restart - no mention of BGP specifically.

Wheel out the Culture Secretary- I Challenge anyone to name him without looking it up!- when there is nothing to say or it's a bit awkward at the moment
.....

[Peter Mallett]

Actually I thought Oliver Dowden was quite good. Certainly included some humour with his banter with one of the journos.

[Adam43]

They often have different people don’t they? And there isn’t much to say most days and it is pretty much always awkward.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Actually I thought Oliver Dowden was quite good. Certainly included some humour with his banter with one of the journos.

Did you look him up?

[S griffin]

He’s one of the ones higher up, but the problem is there’s been quite a few Olivers in the Tory party

[Adam43]

Did you find that out while looking that Oliver up?

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Did you look him up?

Why?

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Why?

I only asked in reference to billy bleach's post #1458. I had to look him up.

[Peter Mallett]

Ah understood.

[Anyopenroad]

Originally Posted by S griffin

He’s one of the ones higher up, but the problem is there’s been quite a few Olivers in the Tory party

Why is the number of Olivers in the Tory party a problem? And how many are there, out of interest?

[Adam43]

Are the number of Olivers in the Tory party representative?

[Peter Mallett]

I think we should be told.

[thetool]

Looking like Silverstone is off:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/formula-...nment-refuses/

With F1 now hoping to run the event at Hockenheim instead.

[Lancsbreaker]

Originally Posted by thetool

Looking like Silverstone is off:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/formula-...nment-refuses/

With F1 now hoping to run the event at Hockenheim instead.

Ah but that article is by yet another "Oliver" - can it be trusted?


It's surely going to be something of an issue for the majority of UK-based teams not being able to send anybody back to base for any reason during the series of overseas races....at least if they do send them back, they'll be stuck here.....

[Moneyseeker]

Yep, as posted above unless F1 can press the UK more with RB's 'bio bubble' looks like BGP is off and also will impact on team movements back into the UK.

[Moneyseeker]

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/14...verstone-plans

Interestingly, as some have posted on here in our discussion the reason giving for not making an exception for F1 (or sport) is that others would demand the same...

[thetool]

Possibly important to note that the Austrian GP(s?) haven't actually been confirmed as going ahead yet either.

Whilst they've more-or-less got their situation under control, whether they are willing to take the political risk is far from certain.

[S griffin]

Well, can they find a reason to justify making an exception? Not saying they can, just wondering