Scuderia Ferrari has gone into self-isolation since their return from the Australian Grand Prix – some in hotels paid for by the company. The move is a precaution – no member of the team have so far had any symptoms of the coronavirus, Ferrari said.
Ferrari offered to put up in hotels anyone who could not return home because of their personal situation. This could include having older family members in the house, or children, or a pregnant wife, for example. Ferrari F1 team members who travelled to Melbourne are to be in quarantine for 14 days from the time they left the paddock in Albert Park.
It is not clear when Ferrari’s F1 team will return to work, not least because the company’s factories are shut down until 27 March, with no information as to the policy the company will pursue after that date. The company made the decision to stop production in both its road-car and F1 factories in Modena and Maranello because of the seriousness of the coronavirus outbreak in Italy.
Meanwhile, the Agnelli family who control Fiat and Ferrari have donated 10m euros to help the fight against the coronavirus in Italy.
The money has gone to the Civil Protection Department to deal with the emergency at a national level, and the Agnellis are also buying 150 ventilators from outside Italy to treat people suffering serious symptoms, as well as supplying a fleet of cars to distribute food and medicine to patients, the elderly and other people in need of assistance across Italy.
The start of the F1 season has had to be postponed as a result of the coronavirus. F1 rules dictate a minimum of eight races must be held for a season to be defined as a World Championship.
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