Yahoo Sports Red Bull F1 boss floated idea of having team's drivers get infected with coronavirus
Red Bull’s Helmut Marko wondered if it would be a good idea to have all of the team’s drivers get infected with the coronavirus while racing is on hiatus.
The 76-year-old told Austrian TV station ORF that his idea was, understandably, not taken to heart by the Red Bull Racing team. Marko wanted to put all of the team’s senior and junior drivers together in the same location where they could then potentially get the virus before racing comes back this summer.
"They are all strong young men in good health. That way they would be prepared whenever the action starts," he said.
The rest of Red Bull management were against the idea, which was abandoned.
"Let's put it this way: it has not been well received," Marko said.
The highly contagious COVID-19 virus has most seriously affected older people and those with underlying health conditions. But it’s also proven dangerous for young people with no other health problems as well. So getting drivers like Max Verstappen and Alex Albon infected on purpose would not be a proposal without risk even if the odds were pretty good that they’d not have serious symptoms from the virus.
[ Coronavirus: How the sports world is responding to the pandemic ]
Marko’s idea is similar to one that had been floated in Great Britain at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The “herd immunity” idea was initially embraced in the country as a way to let the virus spread naturally and let Britain’s residents develop immunity to the virus on a wide scale. That idea was quickly dropped two weeks ago when officials realized the potential strain that could be put on the healthcare system with so many people sick at the same time.
That theory — along with the lack of testing — is why social distancing has become the United States’ preferred way of combating the coronavirus. Properly executed distancing minimizes the load to the healthcare system and also slows the spread of the virus.
The Formula 1 season has been postponed through the beginning of June with a potential mid-June start date in either Canada or Great Britain. The series will not make up races in Australia and Monaco and could race other events postponed by the virus during the typical summer break period in August.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports
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