Sergio Perez has tested positive for Covid-19. – POOL / AFP
Formula 1 was confronted with its first case of a driver positive for the coronavirus on Thursday when the fourth Grand Prix of the season is scheduled to take place at Silverstone in Great Britain.
Mexican Sergio Perez (Racing Point) tested positive on Thursday and will therefore be unable to participate in practice on Friday, qualifying on Saturday, or in the race on Sunday. His participation in the other race scheduled at Silverstone on August 9 is also now impossible.
Silverstone GP maintained
The name of his replacement is not yet known although Racing Point has indicated that it intends to race two cars this weekend, the other being entrusted to Canadian Lance Stroll.
The first Grand Prix of the year scheduled in Australia in early March had been canceled because Covid-19s had been detected among members of several teams but this is the first time that a driver has been affected.
This should not however jeopardize the holding of the Grand Prix of Great Britain, the officials of F1 having put in place a very strict protocol of separation between the teams.