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Bahrain GP to be held without spectators

Published on 08 Mar 2020 09:58
4
By: Fergal Walsh

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.”

Bilstar

Posts: 54

My god. The three spectators who attend Bahrain must be gutted! Shout out to them in this difficult time.

1
Mar 9 2020 - 11:14

F1 News

Replies (4)

calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
Yikes. Butpotentialle speaking it might be for the best. COVID-19 appears to be on par with the average flu in terms of how dangerous it is to us healthy people, but the problem is if it a) spread to elderly, immune-insufficient patients, oncology-patients or other, similarly fragile people, and b) if too many get infected it could put a very high strain on hospitals in multiple ways. More patients, more samples for the labs to handle, sick staff, low supply of protective gear and alcohols and such, shortage in blood banks due to donours being quarantined after travelling to places with COVID infections. So maybe it's for the best.
- + 0
- Mar 8 2020 - 10:27
- Ram Samartha
  
  Posts: 1,172
  Probably for the best. It will be strange not having a live audience for a race. When the infected number hit 100,000 the death rate was 3400, so 3.4% which is more than double than the flu, so it seems the concern is warranted, especially since it seems to be spreading very rapidly. All that said, it does seem a good compromise way to be able to still hold the race and potentially other races without infecting lots of people.
  + 0
  
  Mar 9 2020 - 00:00
Pistonhead

Posts: 556
I applaud the bravery of the decision, compare to Italy who have been stung into more appropriate actions. I don't think the fan absence from this event will be a huge reduced spectacle but it's definitely a shame for all concerned this is the decision. I doubt this will be the only F1 event impacted.
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- Mar 8 2020 - 12:11
Bilstar

Posts: 54
My god. The three spectators who attend Bahrain must be gutted! Shout out to them in this difficult time.
- + 1
- Mar 9 2020 - 11:14