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The 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix will be held behind closed doors due to the coronavirus outbreak, it has been confirmed.
Earlier this week, Bahrain announced that it would be halting ticket sales - however it has now taken the decision to not allow any spectators into the circuit to watch the grand prix.
“In consultation with our international partners and the Kingdom’s national health Taskforce, Bahrain has made the decision to hold this year’s Bahrain Grand Prix as a participants-only event,” a statement read.
“As an F1 host nation, balancing the welfare of supporters and race goers is a tremendous responsibility.
"Given the continued spread of COVID-19 globally, convening a major sporting event, which is open to the public and allows thousands of international travellers and local fans to interact in close proximity would not be the right thing to do at the present time.
“But to ensure that neither the sport, nor its global supporter base, is unduly impacted, the race weekend itself will still go ahead as a televised event.”
The statement added that the measures the country has taken to slow the spread of the virus has been so far successful, leaving it will little choice but to make the race a televised event only.
“Bahrain’s own early actions to prevent, identify and isolate cases of individuals with COVID-19 has been extremely successful to date.
“The approach has involved rapid, proactive measures, identifying those affected by the virus, of which the overwhelming majority of cases relate to those travelling into the country by air.
“Aggressive social distancing measures have further increased the effectiveness of preventing the virus’ spread, something that would clearly be near impossible to maintain were the race to have proceeded as originally planned.
“We know how disappointed many will be by this news, especially for those planning to travel to the event, which has become a cornerstone event of the international F1 calendar, but safety has to remain our utmost priority.”
Grand Prix of Belgium
C. Sainz jr
Bilstar
Posts: 54
My god. The three spectators who attend Bahrain must be gutted! Shout out to them in this difficult time.