Will Covid 19 impact 2022 season?

[Xwang]

According to this:
https://www.racefans.net/2021/01/02/sta ... ralian-gp/
the season start is likely to be delayed.

<Note: despite the new 2022 title, this was originally about the 2021 season.>

[Jolle]

According to this:
https://www.racefans.net/2021/01/02/sta ... ralian-gp/
the season start is likely to be delayed.

Most likely yes I presume. Not only are many countries still in full or partial lockdown, the virus has mutated in a even faster spreader. It will probably take full 2021 to get everyone a vaccine, if, the Facebook anti science madness doesn't gain anymore traction with large groups of people turning into anivaxxers... then we're in this for another few years...

[Zynerji]

According to this:
https://www.racefans.net/2021/01/02/sta ... ralian-gp/
the season start is likely to be delayed.

Most likely yes I presume. Not only are many countries still in full or partial lockdown, the virus has mutated in a even faster spreader. It will probably take full 2021 to get everyone a vaccine, if, the Facebook anti science madness doesn't gain anymore traction with large groups of people turning into anivaxxers... then we're in this for another few years...

Attacking anti-vaxxers...

Even this guy says it's not a cure, just a symptom suppressor...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ction.html

[hollus]

No, that's not what he said. What he said is, of course, more complex than the headline attention grabbing bite.

Remember the rules on a similar thread last year? Still apply here.
Stay away from politics, from vaxxers or antivaxxers, from medical advice, etc. This is an F1 site, if something is dividing society in two, don't bring the division here. Thank you.

Obviously, F1 has to operate on within the world situation so that is OK.

[Big Tea]

According to this:
https://www.racefans.net/2021/01/02/sta ... ralian-gp/
the season start is likely to be delayed.

Most likely yes I presume. Not only are many countries still in full or partial lockdown, the virus has mutated in a even faster spreader. It will probably take full 2021 to get everyone a vaccine, if, the Facebook anti science madness doesn't gain anymore traction with large groups of people turning into anivaxxers... then we're in this for another few years...

Attacking anti-vaxxers...

Even this guy says it's not a cure, just a symptom suppressor...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ction.html

That is from October which is a lifetime ago as covid is concerned. Besides, as long as it keeps peole alive and does not flood ICE what does it matter?

(I posted a link to the green book on another thread if you want to follow it closly)

[nzjrs]

While the Australian story is complicated by their particular strategy, 2020 demonstrated that F1 is able to run an international sporting event safely and competently.

The hopefully already have a backup season order where those countries in which F1 raced successfully and was allowed to race successfully by their hosts should be the first in line to be shuffled to the start if things get canceled.

[adrianjordan]

Yes, but only in terms of I don't expect to see many spectators at races and we may have a few positive cases in the paddock again.

[adrianjordan]

According to this:
https://www.racefans.net/2021/01/02/sta ... ralian-gp/
the season start is likely to be delayed.

Most likely yes I presume. Not only are many countries still in full or partial lockdown, the virus has mutated in a even faster spreader. It will probably take full 2021 to get everyone a vaccine, if, the Facebook anti science madness doesn't gain anymore traction with large groups of people turning into anivaxxers... then we're in this for another few years...

Attacking anti-vaxxers...

Even this guy says it's not a cure, just a symptom suppressor...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ction.html

I know the rules, but as a medical professional I feel the need to dispute this in a factual way. While I don't know what vaccines he was talking about or how those particular ones work, I can speak a little about the 2 that are being rolled out already in the UK.

The Oxford and Pziser vaccines work in different ways and I don't understand the microbiology of those enough to try and explain the techniques, but both work by activation of T cells which are part of the body's immune response system. Importantly they are the cells often nicknamed "memory" cells when teaching basic immunology. They are the important ones in that they give lasting immunity. How lasting? That is still to be answered, but we're talking at least months if not years.

In fact, the Oxford vaccine (I'm currently untaking training to be able to administer it at work) can actually produce symptoms as a side effect, just like a flu vaccine can produce mild flu like symptoms.

I don't know exactly what Dr Fauci said before it got edited by journalists with a story to sell, but he would know this and would agree that it is actually taken as a sign that the vaccine is effective because those symptoms are a byproduct of the body's immune response. Which is exactly what we aim to trigger with vaccines.

[henry]

One change from 2020 is the emergence of strains of the virus, discovered in the U.K. and SA, that are reported to be more transmissible, a higher basic R. This may, or may not, mean that the NMIs that sufficiently restricted transmission in 2020 will need to be revised. If changes are needed it remains to be seen if the F1 circus can be made to work practically with them. In the U.K. regions with relatively tight social distancing restrictions have seen much higher case loads where the more transmissible strain is predominant.

[turbof1]

Oh lovely, another one of those threads that will no doubt derail because some people are unable to keep to the subject and involve politics, lifestyles,... .

When Hollus intervened here yesterday, his message immediately got ignored. If this message gets ignored now, we will close down the thread at the earliest convenience.

Title is "will covid 19 impact 2021 season". I think the title is clear on its own what this is about.

[Mattchu]

Yes!

[Just_a_fan]

I can see the virus causing some issues unless F1 gets all of the teams vaccinated over the winter. If not, we could see a driver missing a race or two. Whether it will cause a race to be DNS? Tricky question. I could see Australia being cancelled again if they have a flair up.

It's going to be a long season at 22-23 races so anyone missing a race will be less disadvantaged than this year.

[Big Tea]

I can see the virus causing some issues unless F1 gets all of the teams vaccinated over the winter. If not, we could see a driver missing a race or two. Whether it will cause a race to be DNS? Tricky question. I could see Australia being cancelled again if they have a flair up.

It's going to be a long season at 22-23 races so anyone missing a race will be less disadvantaged than this year.

I think there will be more problems than just getting the drivers vaccinated.
Even if all the drivers and every team member gets vaccinated they can still carry the virus from one place to another.
So even if everyone involved right down to 'menials' there will be risk involved unless they are kept in a bubble as this (last) year.

It would need to include transport and accommodation, plus what ever is brought into the track locally (well, those who brought it going out) plus things like passing through airports etc.

Having all the early rounds in Europe and road transport only could help, but I don't know about Australia unless F1 have their own dedicated planes and land/unload at say a military airport (wait for them, expensive) and keep the bubble system?

[henry]

Like @Big Tea I don’t think a vaccine is a sliver bullet. I don’t think it’s known whether a vaccinated person is infectious or not. Nor are the vaccines 100% effective, if 20 drivers are vaccinated some (a couple maybe) may not gain immunity. My understanding is vaccinations can be effective on a population but can’t be guaranteed for any particular individual.

I would think that if they do use vaccination, seems likely they will, they will need to do it soon to allow for recovery from adverse reactions and development of immunity which takes weeks. I think they will also need to continue with their 2020 protocols AND persuade destination health authorities that they’re measures will not import a risk of infection. Given how many teams are based in the U.K. which is very high risk I don’t think that’s a given.

[nevill3]

With only 11 weeks to go and no sign of the worldwide infection rates declining I can see trouble ahead, I envisage the season starting late, possibly the first round somewhere in Europe again