AlphaTauri setting up reserve team: "You have to replace the whole team"

In order to start the Formula 1 season 2020 a lot is asked of teams and their team members . And that doesn't only apply to the people who actually go to the circuits. Behind the scenes, most teams will have to have a reserve team ready.

This is due to the fact that each team operates as it were in a bubble. Team members may under no circumstances come into contact with people from another team. So a team is really a unit on the circuits and is treated the same way when something goes wrong.

"After a positive test you have to replace the whole team," says Franz Tost, team boss of AlphaTauri, to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. "We are currently preparing so that we can fly in a reserve team. We have to find a replacement for each technician and mechanic so that we can guarantee that we can start with the team".

Because everyone who travels to and from the circuits has to be quarantined beforehand and afterwards for a longer period of time, some of the staff who stay at home will also have to be quarantined in case they are called at the last minute. It is therefore possible that some team members will be quarantined for weeks this summer and autumn without ever seeing a track up close.