By Alan Baldwin
SILVERSTONE, England (Reuters) – Mexican Formula One driver Sergio Perez was self-isolating on Thursday after an inconclusive test for COVID-19, the governing FIA said at the British Grand Prix.
A spokesman for the Silverstone-based Racing Point team said Perez, who was awaiting the result of a re-test and not at the circuit, had not been back to Mexico since he last raced in Hungary on July 19.
Perez had been due to attend a video news conference with team mate Lance Stroll at the circuit but the Canadian faced questions alone.
If the re-test comes back positive, Perez would be ruled out of Sunday’s fourth round of the season.
Racing Point share reserve drivers with engine supplier Mercedes, who have Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne and Mexican Esteban Gutierrez available.
Formula One has started its delayed season without spectators and under carefully controlled conditions, with teams operating in ‘bubbles’ and all employees and those with access to the paddock tested every five days.
The sport has so far reported only two positive results, neither involving people who attended races, from more than 15,000 tests carried out from June 26 to July 23.
Formula One chairman Chase Carey said before the start of the season that the sport would not cancel a race even if a driver returned a positive test.
“We encourage teams to have procedures in place so if an individual has to be put in quarantine, we have the ability to quarantine them at a hotel and to replace that individual,” he said then.
The original season-opener in Melbourne in March was cancelled after a McLaren employee tested positive before the track action had started.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, Editing by Alison Williams and Toby Davis)
