McLaren have withdrawn from this weekend's season-opening Australian Grand Prix after a team member tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus.
McLaren said the infected team member was now self-isolating in Australia.
In a statement, the team said:
McLaren Racing has confirmed this evening in Melbourne that it has withdrawn from the 2020 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, following the positive test of a team member for the coronavirus. The team member was tested and self-isolated as soon as they started to show symptoms and will now be treated by local healthcare authorities.
The team has prepared for this eventuality and has ongoing support in place for its employee who will now enter a period of quarantine. The team is cooperating with the relevant local authorities to assist their investigations and analysis.
Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, and Andreas Seidl, Team Principal of McLaren F1, informed Formula 1 and the FIA of the decision this evening. The decision has been taken based on a duty of care not only to McLaren F1 employees and partners, but also to the team’s competitors, Formula 1 fans and wider F1 stakeholders.
The coronavirus outbreak, now declared a pandemic, has led to widespread disruption of sporting fixtures around the world.
Other teams have yet to make a statement, but it is expected they will follow suit. In that case, the race would obviously be cancelled and so would next week's Bahrain Grand Prix.
