Ferrari express “solidarity” for Italy amid Coronavirus outbreak

Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has expressed “solidarity” for the people of Italy amid the coronavirus outbreak that has seen over 40,000 cases across the country.

Italy is currently the worst hit European country from the Covid-19 pandemic with its total amount of cases and has the highest amount of deaths (3,405 as of Friday) around the world.

The Agnelli family, who control Ferrari and Fiat, donated €10m (£9.3m) to the nation’s government in aid of dealing with the outbreak, as well as provide car services for food and medicine.

Binotto says that the team’s thoughts are with the country amid the crisis.

“The health of our employees is important. It's our top priority,” Binotto said to F1’s official website.

“We managed to go to Melbourne, even though it wasn't easy for us to be there as we had to change our plan on the flights as well. 

“But more than that is what is happening in Italy, which we are concerned [about]. We express our solidarity to all our people here.”

Production in Maranello was brought to a halt for Ferrari, as well as the manufacturer’s road-car side of operations due to the coronavirus.

While F1 has brought foreward the summer break to March-April due to postponement/cancellation of the first seven races Binotto tried various development programs before their closure.

“There are a lot of restrictions which have been applied to minimise risks of contagion and that is affecting our development capacity,” he added. 

“Now everything is obviously pending. Before the shutdown, we tried to recalibrate the development programs on the basis of various calendar hypotheses but, obviously, we must wait for the evolution of the spread of coronavirus in the world and its effects on the resumption of activities.

“Only when we have a more precise picture will we be able to understand what we will be able to bring to the track in the first Grand Prix of the season. 

“We have to understand how the situation will develop but we hope that we can go back to running as soon as possible, once the conditions are right.

“For our part, we are ready to support F1 and the FIA in this delicate phase."