AlphaTauri team takes COVID-19 vaccine in Bahrain
AlphaTauri Formula 1 boss Franz Tost has confirmed that his entire team has taken advantage of the Bahrain's government's offer of COVID-19 vaccinations for visitors.
The long gap between arrival for this week's testing and departure after the Bahrain GP on March 28 race has created a window that allows F1 personnel to receive the necessary two vaccinations within the required timescale.
The offer is available to all visitors to the country, and not just those coming for the race.
Over the winter, senior personnel, including new F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, indicated that it would be wrong for people who work in the sport to be seen jumping the queue for a vaccine in their home countries.
Following Bahrain's announcement, the F1 organisation indicated that its own travelling staff would not be taking advantage of the opportunity.
However, teams and drivers have decided to get vaccinated, with those based in EU encouraged by the slow roll out in their countries.
"All the team members from Scuderia AlphaTauri have been vaccinated on Tuesday," said Tost.
"We will stay one or two days longer after the race for the second vaccination, because health as you know is the most important factor.
"Me as a team principal, I'm responsible for the health of the people, and therefore we did this vaccination, and I say many, many thanks to Bahrain that they offered us this possibility.
"In Europe, I don't know how long we wait to be vaccinated, especially in Austria and Italy and so on. Therefore, we are more than happy."
British-based teams Aston Martin and Alpine said that they had left the choice to each team member.
"We decided to leave it up to the individuals," said Aston boss Otmar Szafnauer. "But like Franz said, it was a very kind offer by the Bahrainis.
"So we left it, it was an individual choice, and because of it, I haven't asked which individuals opted in or out. I can happily say that I'm so old, I was vaccinated in the UK!"
"Similar, we haven't set any policies," said Alpine executive director Marcin Budkowski. "We as a team, we've just left it to the individuals to decide what they wanted to do."
On Friday Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz both said that they had take advantage of Bahrain's offer.
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