F1 facing a challenge: "Difficult that such a large group wants to enter Austria"

The Austrian Grand Prix looks set to be the first Formula 1 race of the season on July 5th. Helmut Marko has been arguing for this for some time now and in a conversation he had with Werner Kogler (the Minister of Sport) it appeared that the Austrian government is also sympathetic towards organising a Grand Prix. As long as this is done according to the guidelines.

One of those guidelines dictates that there will be no audience on the Red Bull Ring, that's for sure. The next step is that the organization of Formula 1 and the Austrian Grand Prix have to come up with a plan to get the staff of the teams and the organization on and off the track according to the same guidelines. Only then will Formula 1 get full cooperation from the Austrian government.

"The problem with this sport is not so much keeping distance, but that there are travel-laws in place," Kogler says to ORF. "The tricky thing is that it's such a large group of people who want to enter the country. By the way, this is undoubtedly about races without an audience, a race with spectators is already out of the question. Whether this puts the circuit at financial risk is a problem for the organizers".

Everyone must be tested in their country of origin

Kogler doesn't want to stand in the way of the Grand Prix, but he still foresees some problems in its execution. The regulations for entry and exit stipulate that everyone entering the country has to have a certificate indicating that they are not infected with COVID-19, otherwise they have to be quarantined for two weeks after arrival.

A total of more than 1500 people will come to the Red Bull Ring from all over the world for the Grand Prix. So they will all have to be tested beforehand, even if they do not show any signs of disease.