Pierre Gasly has tested positive for coronavirus. Photo / Don Kennedy
Caption photo : Will Lewis Hamilton turn his back on Mercedes? Photo / Don Kennedy
Don Kennedy on Formula One
With the first test session just six weeks away, drivers are preparing in different ways for the start of the new season.
In the case of Alpha Tauri driver Pierre Gasly, his pre-season training in Dubai has proved a negative, because upon returning home to France he has tested positive for Covid-19, the sixth F1 driver to do so.
Last season, Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll, Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc all had the virus.
That is nearly a third of the drivers on the grid and is a worrying situation.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, instead of the Australian GP in Melbourne being the season opener in March, it will now be the third to last event in a scheduled 23-race season, and take place on November 21.
The only consolation is that it will give the organisers the chance to do some alterations to the track, such as widening the pit lane.
Gasly took to Twitter to explain his situation: "I'm currently self-isolating and following the protocol set by the local health authorities. I'm feeling okay and will continue to follow my training plan from my home while I remain in isolation. Take care."
The new CEO of F1 is former Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali, and he is well aware of the challenge ahead for event organisers.
"What I can share is that I'm personally in contact on a daily basis with all the organisers," he stated. "We know the pandemic is still there, that's why we changed the place of Australia in the calendar, but so far the information we have is that everyone would like to go ahead with the plan.
"Of course, we need to be flexible enough to understand that maybe in the first part of the season we may have some events with no public or with restricted numbers of public. But what I can assure our supporters, our fans, is that really we want to make sure that the season is there, we have a commitment and we want to take that on board."
But teams are concerned that with fewer races like last year, when a 21-race season was cut to 17 because of Covid-19, the teams received less price money.
"Due to the cancellation of many grand prix that pay big fees, and less income from sponsorship and merchandising, the prize pool that is available to teams is less," Manfredi Ravetto, the former Caterham team principal, said.
"Teams have a harder time, they are nervous. The problem will only get worse this year because the pot of 2020 will be a lot less filled. The teams also have less income from sponsorship and merchandise."
One driver you might think should be getting a little nervous is seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. The new knight has posted a video on Twitter of himself cross–country skiing as part of his winter training. He says he is in "one of my favourite places in the world, training every day, getting my mind and body right".
He doesn't say where he is but Vail, Colorado, in the US is where he usually goes this time of year.
He is training hard for the new season, "hiking to the top of the mountain every morning. Two of those hikes, I cross-country ski once I get to the top which is at 3400m, killer. Proper altitude training!"
Hamilton will be aware of the pending financial crisis amongst F1 teams, especially if the pandemic rolls out for most of the year, yet by all accounts he is holding out on signing a new Mercedes contract. Depending on who you talk to and what you read, Hamilton was on $40 million per annum but apparently wants more, as well as a three-year contract extension.
Is this just a publicity stunt by Mercedes and Hamilton, or are there genuine problems with a new contract?
When Mercedes boss Toto Wolff signed a new three-year deal, given how close he is to Hamilton, the latter re-signing seemed a mere formality and they were just waiting for the right opportunity. But when Wolff was asked if Hamilton will get a three-year deal, he replied: "I don't think so."
Asked when an announcement might be made, he coyly said: "Soon is a flexible term but yeah, soon.
"There must be a sensible agreement and we are not far from it," he added.
"You have to keep your eyes open. Lewis is incredibly important, not only for our team but also for the Mercedes brand. But the landscape is changing right now. We have a big regulation change next year and the cost cap that will hit us hard next year."
When Hamilton contracted coronavirus, missing the Sakhir GP late last year, his replacement, George Russell, a Mercedes driver on loan to Williams, nearly won the race.
He would have done so but for the team botching his pit stop, and then he later had a puncture, but Russell's debut Mercedes drive confirmed that it is largely the car and not the driver that accounts for much of Mercedes' success.
"We never played the Russell card and his sensational performance in Bahrain in the negotiations," Wolff insists.
"We have a strong relationship and have celebrated too many successes for that. It was simply a matter of making the best decision for Lewis and the team. George will definitely play a role in our future line-up. He just needs to trust us and be patient. But today we are focusing on our two drivers, that is Valtteri [Bottas] and Lewis. We'll see what the future brings."
Bottas has said he does "not care" whether Hamilton re-signs or not, which is the right attitude if he is to do a Nico Rosberg and beat Hamilton. Bottas added: "All Formula 1 drivers are good, so whoever gets it will be tough."
According to former F1 driver Gerhard Berger, Bottas is not tough enough.
"Lewis is absolutely world class," Berger says. "On top of his crazy speed and extreme talent, he also has experience. Bottas isn't slow either but in the end, he doesn't stand a chance against Hamilton. That's how most drivers feel."
Berger says that Hamilton "feels his tyres as if they were his feet" in explaining why he is able to make his tyres last longer than the rest of the field.
"We've had Fangio, Prost, Michael Schumacher, Alonso, Vettel and others who have shaped an era. For me, Hamilton is right up there with them. But the best of all time for me stays Ayrton Senna."
F1 returnee Fernando Alonso has joined the discussion in evaluating Russell, whose Bahrain performance has given Mercedes a cheaper option than Hamilton, yet someone who could still win for them.
"The Russell case is striking in explaining this version in F1," Alonso says. "In five days, not a hundred, he went from last to first. All without a divine touch, without meditating in Tibet or shit. It was enough just to get into a Mercedes.
"Evaluating the drivers is complicated. Of course, if we think about who Hamilton or Bottas see more often in their rear-view mirrors, we find [Max] Verstappen. Leclerc is an exceptional talent but to really measure him it takes a few years."
Alonso added: "There is no domination if there is not a winning car.
"It happened to Hamilton, it happened to Vettel that with Red Bull he triumphed and then he could not win again. The same happened to me with Renault in 2005 and 2006."
Alonso notes that in his stint with Ferrari, just like Vettel, "We didn't win, of course, but we came close to the world championship twice fighting until the last race. I say this because nobody remembers second places. In 2017 and 2018 it happened the same with Vettel. The truth is that in the last seven years only one team has won."
Which is why Hamilton will re-sign on terms set more by Mercedes than himself. He doesn't need the money, but he does want an eighth title and more records.
Former team owner Eddie Jordan recently said that if he was the head of Daimler, and Hamilton didn't accept his offer, he would show him the door. But he has now contradicted that statement by saying they would be deluded not to re-sign him.
"Mercedes are probably saying a lot of this is to do with the car and we've given him an outstanding chance to be world champion because he has the best car. That's not in dispute," Jordan says.
"However, if they think they can replace Lewis Hamilton with another driver and have the same element of success than I think they are deluded. He [Wolff] knows exactly the value of Lewis Hamilton and I think they will sit down and come to a good solution because the world of F1 needs Lewis Hamilton in it. He's the jewel in the crown."
As we go to press there is no indication the Mercedes-Hamilton stalemate has been broken, but it would be a major shock and shake-up, like Covid-19 has been, if Hamilton is car-less in 2021.