McLaren confirms team member that contracted coronavirus is 'recovering well'

McLaren has issued a statement on the staff affected by the coronavirus in Australia, announcing that the team member who tested positive is now recovering well.

On the eve of the season-opening race in Melbourne, the Woking-based squad announced that it would pull out of the race after a confirmed case of coronavirus was found within their team.

F1 subsequently cancelled the remainder of the race weekend, before announcing that the following rounds in Bahrain and Vietnam had been postponed.

A number of McLaren members entered quarantine in Melbourne after coming into contact with the affected team member - however he is now showing no symptoms, while the rest of the team is in good spirits.

“I'm happy to report that our team member affected with the virus is recovering well and the symptoms have gone and our people in quarantine are in good spirits,” said CEO Zak Brown.

“The support they have been getting from their teammates, our partners, members of the F1 community and fans from around the world has been fantastic and our thanks go out to all of them.”

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl stayed behind in Melbourne with the team for a handful of days before returning to Europe.

However, racing director Andrea Stella has remained in Australia with the other isolated team members.

Seidl said: “This is not an easy situation. Special thanks to our racing director Andrea Stella and his guys, who volunteered to stay Down Under for the next 14 days supporting our guys in quarantine.

“When I talk about our team members, I also want to thank our two great drivers, Carlos and Lando, who have been obviously concerned about their teammates.

“We have to keep them physically away from the rest of the team, even though they are both fine, but they are in constant communication.”

Brown added that it had previously been agreed that if a case of the coronavirus was confirmed within the team, McLaren would immediately pull out of the remainder of the weekend.

“We had been continually scenario-planning together with the team back in the UK, so we knew what our options were in the event of various outcomes," said the American.

“Andreas and I already agreed that if we had a positive case in the garage there was only one option. As I said before, as a racer it was the hardest decision I've had to take but as CEO it was the easiest. Our people come first and Andreas feels very strongly about this too.

“When the news came through on Thursday evening Andreas and I were at dinner with one of our shareholders.

“We immediately returned to the team hotel to join our race team leadership and while Andreas focused on leading the team, I focused on our board and shareholders, who were absolutely supportive I must say, while informing the other teams, F1 and the FIA."