F1 Rumor: Said to be eyeing mandatory covid vaccination (2nd Update)

This rumor was already ‘fact’, but more detail.

Formula 1 has confirmed reports that all drivers, travelling team staff and other personnel in the F1 paddock must be vaccinated against covid-19 from 2022.

Following the debacle surrounding number 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic’s deportation from Australia earlier this month, Melbourne GP officials indicated that there would be no exception to vaccination rules for F1 staff.

“These rules are understood by Formula 1, they’re understood by the FIA, they’re going to be written into the sporting regulations,” said Australian Grand Prix Corporation boss Andrew Westacott recently.

Major British outlets the BBC and London’s Times newspaper are now reporting that Formula 1 has confirmed that the vaccine rule is firmly in place for the forthcoming season.

F1 “will require that all travelling employees are fully vaccinated”, a spokesman for the Liberty Media-owned organization confirmed to German news agency DPA.

A spokesman for Formula 1 is also quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport: “The management of Formula 1 will require that all crew members be fully vaccinated with no exemptions.”

Towards the end of last season, F1’s regular medical driver Alan van der Merwe already had to sit out some grands prix due to not being vaccinated.

This rumor is upgraded to ‘fact’ today.

(GMM) Formula 1 personnel, including the drivers, must have received covid-19 vaccines in order to race and work at the circuits in 2022.

We reported recently that, amid the incredible saga surrounding world number 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic’s deportation from Australia, mandatory vaccination was also on the cards for Formula 1.

That has indeed now been pushed through the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council, according to F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali.

“One of the last things approved in the last World Council was, as a precaution, to vaccinate all F1 staff to be in the paddock,” he is quoted by the Spanish sports daily Marca.

With a mandatory policy, F1 should be able to navigate the sort of restrictions that are in place in Australia and also elsewhere on the 23-strong 2022 calendar.

Domenicali said: “Vaccines and boosters are our way out of this pandemic, and we have to keep everyone safe and move forward together.

“I have been vaccinated and boosted, and I ask everyone to do the same. Formula 1 is moving forward, and we ask that everyone do their part.”

Formula 1 looks set to mandate covid-19 vaccination for all drivers and personnel ahead of the 2022 season.

Amid the bizarre saga surrounding world tennis number 1 Novak Djokovic’s entry to Australia and attempt to compete in the forthcoming Australian Open, F1 is also not immune to vaccine-related controversy.

Formula 1 is also set to return to Melbourne after a two-year hiatus for the covid crisis this year, where the Victorian state government is requiring all international athletes to be fully vaccinated.

“We know that in some places, in some countries, in some events, mandatory vaccination is moving forward,” F1 governing body the FIA’s director of operations Bruno Famin is quoted by DPA news agency.

“It’s something we could consider, but nothing has been decided at the moment.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is hoping Formula 1 and the world begins to put the covid crisis in the past in 2022.

He said his children’s schooling was badly affected by restrictions.

“These children have of course been robbed of very important years,” the Austrian told FAZ newspaper.

“It was a silent suffering for them, and we will only be able to better assess the social and emotional consequences in many years.

“We’re not out of it yet, but I hope that these scars will heal too,” said Wolff.