Zak Brown: We can't let British Grand Prix doubts stop F1 if rest of the world is ready for us

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
In doubt: Hamilton celebrated by crowd-surfing at last year's Silvertstone Grand Prix
Getty Images

Formula One will find a way to race, even if the 14-day quarantine is imposed and the British Grand Prix is forced to be scrapped, according to McLaren chief Zak Brown.

The double-header at Silverstone hangs in the balance, after reports emerged that the Government was potentially reneging on plans to give F1 a travel exemption amid its biosphere measures.

That could not just scupper plans for racing in Britain but, with the majority of teams based in the UK, hamper travel in and out to the remaining races on the calendar.

But Brown said: “The Silverstone quarantine stuff is new news, a moving target, and we’ve not been told anything definitively. It throws a wrench in the plan for Silverstone, because there are options to just race in Europe and maybe not come back so often.

“I know F1 and the FIA are still working hard with Government on this exemption. Everyone wants a Silverstone. I think it would be a shame to not have a British Grand Prix and race everywhere else in Europe.”

F1 bosses reportedly have contingency plans to replace Silverstone on the calendar if required, with Hockenheim in Germany, not originally on the 2020 calendar, ready to step in to host two races.

“It would be a shame to miss the British Grand Prix but, if all the other countries are ready to go, we can’t let any one country stop F1 from happening if the rest of the world is ready for us,” added Brown. “It’s just unfortunate it ends up being England, as so much of the infrastructure is based here. If we get restricted in our homeland, that’s going to make manoeuvring around a big challenge.”

The revised season is scheduled to get under way in Austria on July 5, with the teams flying into a nearby military base and locking down in quarantine during the stay.

And Brown said it could become the norm this season to “move around from base to base”.

Should the British round be scrapped for the first time in the sport’s history, McLaren’s chief executive is hopeful dispensation will be given to allow teams to travel elsewhere on the calendar.

“If you do go on the road for two months, then teams will do what they need to do to go racing. But that’s certainly not an ideal situation, especially with what’s going on; to have people’s loved ones not being with them for two months or not have the ability to come back for a few days,” he said.

“I’m hoping we can work through this by being responsible and working with Government, being very cautious and not putting anyone at risk. Failing that, we can at least not restrict the balance of our movement. The draconian [scenario] is we’re in lockdown and we have to work around avoiding the UK, which would be unfortunate.”

Brown is confident there will be between 14 and 16 races this season, with eight provisionally in Europe, two double-headers in the Middle East and even the potential for racing in the US later in the year.

F1 was put on hold indefinitely from the moment a McLaren team member tested positive for Covid-19 at what should have been the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in March.Of the decision for F1 to travel to Melbourne with the pandemic taking hold, Brown reflected: “It’s a tricky one to call to say we should not have gone. Sitting here right now, we should not have gone, but at the time the decision was made it was probably the right decision to go. What we could have done better was be more prepared.”

The double-header at Silverstone hangs in the balance
Getty Images

Since then, F1 has been scrabbling to find a season start, with the new-for-2021 rules delayed by another season and team budgets slashed, with a new cap to meet the financial hit of the coronavirus and the current lack of racing.

In a sport not always renowned for the solidarity of its teams, Brown believes the crisis has made it more cohesive and will work to its favour long term.

“From an industry coming together for a common goal, [F1’s] probably never been stronger,” he said. “And the sport’s going to be in a lot better place with the budget cap: more competitive, more fans, more tickets sold, more countries wanting races. Five years down the road, we will have a better sport post-Covid than pre-Covid.

“But we need to ensure we don’t go back in an irresponsible way. There’s a lot of racing left in our lifetime, so to miss another race here or there, to make sure, when we get started, it continues is the wise thing to do.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in