COVID-19: Bahrain offers vaccine to spectators and team members
In the face of Covid19, the Gulf Kingdom wants to offer vaccination to those planning to attend the winter tests and the Bahrain Grand Prix.
To an unprecedented health situation, an unprecedented proposal. The authorities of the kingdom of Bahrain have announced their intention to offer Covid19 vaccination during all major events to be held on its territory.
Traditionally on Spanish soil, the winter tests will take place on Friday, March 12 at the Sakhir circuit. These tests will have a particularity as they will only take place over 3 days instead of the usual 6. In addition, with the postponement of the Australian Grand Prix, the first round of this 2021 Formula 1 championship will take place on the same circuit from March 26 to 28.
So it’s a whole paddock that will stay on Bahraini soil for more than 3 weeks, to which the potential spectators during these tests and this Grand Prix must also be added.
Given the large number of people present on its territory, the ministry therefore proposed vaccination to those declaring themselves as participating in the race.
What choice for the teams?
Faced with this announcement, some teams have chosen to clarify their positions. Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull have accepted this vaccination offer, but whether or not to do so is up to each individual’s discretion and will not be compulsory under any circumstances.
For Toto Wolf, executive director of the Mercedes team, it is a personal decision, who wants to be vaccinated and who does not. It is not a decision that we, as a team, make in one way or the other.
On Red Bull’s side, the thinking is the same: it will all depend on each person’s personal choice. Finally, at Ferrari, according to La Gazzetta, 90% of the team’s staff would have decided to get vaccinated and would now be waiting for their second doses to be injected.
