How F1 is managing its return to racing

The FIA has always put safety at the forefront of everything it does in motorsport. This mantra is embodied in the International Sporting Code that all competitors in every category of racing must adhere to.

Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak it was always understood that this safety referred to the hazards of racing, but the current pandemic has brought a new meaning to the provisions of the code and required a completely new approach to how we return to racing.

In response to the events of this year, the FIA and F1 have taken extraordinary measures to protect motorsport, culminating in a raft of new regulations for 2020 and beyond which were passed recently by the World Motorsport Council. While these regulations protected the financial viability of the championships and the teams, there was still a considerable body of work to do in the practicalities of keeping all stakeholders safe as we planned the return to racing.

The World Health Organisation has provided a framework and a suite of measures to mitigate the effects of COVID-19, but the understanding of the transmission of the virus is a process of learning and adapting the measures in response to new data. The FIA medical department was able to draw on this advice to provide comprehensive guidelines for all stakeholders in order to mitigate risk.

When one considers the breadth of the participants in a motorsport event, the scale of the problem becomes apparent. It is not just the teams that need to be considered but also the FIA officials, the commercial rights holder's staff, the promoters and their staff at the venue, the media, officials, organisers, catering staff, emergency services, and even bodies such as governmental agencies and border control. The list is enormous, as is the task.

The return to motor sport guidelines issued by the FIA run to over 70 pages and cover the process of putting on a race event while providing a fair, fun and entertaining competition. This has been backed up by further work done by the F1 organisation and significant and valuable input from the teams.

It naturally covers the core transmission mitigation measures such as social distancing, hand hygiene, health checks and testing, as well as contact tracing, but within the context of a mass gathering such as a race event. While the concept of racing 'behind closed doors' removes the concern over spectator safety, the number of people involved in making a race happen is still considerable.

For the first events of our delayed season these numbers are severely limited, with each team allowed to bring only 80 staff and every other organisation being asked to look at how to minimise numbers.

As part of the drive to a low carbon future, a programme had been initiated to produce more of the world television feed remotely, which has the added benefit of reducing the freight weight that is flown to each race outside Europe by around 40%

A good example of this exists within the F1 organisation. As part of the drive to a low carbon future, a programme had been initiated to produce more of the world television feed remotely. This can reduce the number of staff attending an event by around 40% but has the added benefit of reducing the freight weight that is flown to each race outside Europe by around 40% as well.

While this was done for sustainability reasons initially, it has additional benefits now because the reduction in passenger aircraft flying, which also carry a significant amount of freight ordinarily, has caused a severe shortage in worldwide airfreight capacity. This in turn has driven costs up enormously. The cost of chartering a 747 freighter has risen from around USD $200,000 to over $1m.

In order to implement the many special measures required for the return to racing, each event will have a command and control centre. This will act as the hub for ensuring that all procedures are carried out correctly and that, in the event of an incident, adequate corrective and mitigation procedures are implemented.

For example, the electronic passes which grant access to the paddock will be automatically cancelled every evening and will only be re-activated on receipt of a declaration from each team that all their members have given a negative test within the last 48 hours and are not exhibiting symptoms of any sort.

The testing itself will take place both at the teams' premises before leaving for an event and also at the event, with a bespoke service giving a turnaround of results within hours. Any positive test will result in the removal of the infected person to an isolation unit where their condition can be assessed and a self-isolation procedure can start. In this way, a bubble or cluster strategy can be maintained.

A cluster strategy is a mitigation procedure which accepts that within certain groups it is not practical to follow all core virus transmission mitigation measures. A pitstop crew needs to be in proximity to do its job, as do the mechanics in the garage or the engineers and drivers in the debrief rooms.

By keeping each team in a cluster and not sharing any facilities, such as toilets, between clusters, any infection can be isolated. It will also ensure no contact with the local community. In principle it is the same as the guidance and regulations issued by many governments which reference 'members of the same household'. That family unit can be thought of as a mini-cluster, which can work, live and travel together but should avoid interactions with other clusters.

We can expect to see several changes when we return to racing, be it crew members wearing PPE or new grid procedures, but what is seen will be only the tip of the iceberg of effort that has gone on behind the scenes to bring F1 back.

The situation continues to evolve and so will the procedures, and even the calendar, but there is no reason to believe that even if the championship is shortened it will be any less enthralling - in fact there are many reasons to believe it may be more exciting, which is great news for sports fans around the world.