COVID-19 could affect more races this year.

[marmer]

Could F1 hold races behind closed doors. It would be relatively easy to in effect isolate drivers and team members and press between back to back races. Keep fans away from the track stops any spreading at events and then you just need to do checks for local track staff the F1 TV audience which is the main part of the sport would be able to watch without issue.

[JonoNic]

F1 could hold non-championship races in case the country bans certain teams. I remember the old South African GP being a non-championship race many years ago

[AJI]

Could F1 hold races behind closed doors...

That's been pretty much the strategy for years now... F1 is the motorsport equivalent of Bohemian Grove

[nzjrs]

All the current measures are because we're in the containment phase, trying to limit the spread. Every independent expert I've heard from expects that to fail within the next month or two. After that life will go back to normal.

I believe you are mistaken to not believe a very important goal of the containment phase is to slow the spread (yes, many people readily acknowledge that containment is likely impossible). Some models for the interested, at least showing what people find important to model...



If one slows the spread then the error bars on this statement

but it seems unlikely that everyone will catch it

and this statement

From those, between 1000-5000 are hospitalized

applied to the number of hospital beds and hospital staff in your country, get spread out over a long time.

(heck: this is implicit in even the advice for the public - wear masks if *you* are infected - i.e. slow the spread to others - i.e. we know that *you* might be fine, but enough people from a large enough group, and your health system, may not)

[F1NAC]

Could this lead to cancellation of Bahrain GP?

[Wouter]

Could this lead to cancellation of Bahrain GP?

https://twitter.com/ChrisMedlandF1/stat ... 4203681799

It looks like it. Some have flights via Bangkok, others via Singapore.

[NathanE]

We could just run 20 British GPs this year

[Zynerji]

Codemasters should be pushing a Sim alternative in case of cancellations. Non points scoring, but with the hyper realistic graphics/physics and amazing feedback Sim controls, they could still create TV worthy racing, and sponsors still get their required air-time. Not to mention 100% equalized performance leading to super tight racing.

And driver-driver radio would be awesome. Trash talking to each other during a race is something F1 has been missing out on.

[nzjrs]

I wonder what percentage of the fanbase would watch sim racing. I 100% would not.

[DChemTech]

I wonder what percentage of the fanbase would watch sim racing. I 100% would not.

Structurally, I agree.

But for a one-off, it would be quite entertaining I guess. And it's a cheaper way of seeing what happens if you give everyone an equal car than, say, putting everyone in an F2-car.

[Phil]

Who wants equal cars? I dont.

[DChemTech]

Who wants equal cars? I dont.

I don't either, structurally. But I would like to see an occasional (serious) show-off in equal cars, just to see who surprises in that setting, positively or negatively.

Structurally, all I want is equal resources between the teams so that we can see which team is the most capable, instead of which one has the deepest pockets. But luckily, we're already moving in that direction.

[Just_a_fan]

And driver-driver radio would be awesome. Trash talking to each other during a race is something F1 has been missing out on.

What a horrible idea. That would be a total turn off.

[Zynerji]

And driver-driver radio would be awesome. Trash talking to each other during a race is something F1 has been missing out on.

What a horrible idea. That would be a total turn off.

I'd like to see a poll on that one.

[Rodak]

Lies, damned lies and statistics.

The figure of 0.1% for Influenza is 0.1% of the entire population. Though that fluctuates each year depending on a multitude of factors. Remember that figure is also despite immunisation programmes. The actual fatality rate for infected patients varies between 1 and 6% depending on strain etc.

The figures of 1-2% for Covid-19 are of infected patients. So yes, if everyone catches it the fatality rate will be much higher than flu, but it seems unlikely that everyone will catch it since even something that is similarly contagious like Norovirus doesn't infect 100% of the population.

The media is, as they so often do, comparing apples and oranges.

All the current measures are because we're in the containment phase, trying to limit the spread. Every independent expert I've heard from expects that to fail within the next month or two. After that life will go back to normal.

No, you are incorrect; the CFR (case fatality rate) is calculated from the ratio of cases to deaths, not the general population. From the National Institutes of Health:

The case fatality risk for a population is estimated as the number of H1N1pdm09-associated deaths divided by the number of H1N1pdm09 cases in that population. The numerator could be counts or estimates of the number of deaths among laboratory-confirmed cases, the number of deaths among symptomatic cases, or indirect estimates of the total number of deaths associated with H1N1pdm09. The denominator could be counts or estimates of the number of laboratory-confirmed H1N1pdm09 cases, the number of symptomatic H1N1pdm09 cases, or the number of infections.