Alpha Tauri Formula One driver Pierre Gasly has become the latest Formula 1 driver to contract the Covid-19 coronavirus.
The 24-year-old Frenchman is the sixth F1 driver – 30% of the F1 starting grid – to test positive for Covid-19 since last March.
Gasly, the winner of last year’s chaotic Italian Grand Prix [above], is now added to the growing list of F1 drivers who contracted Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic. That list includes current defending world champion Lewis Hamilton, Racing Point drivers Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
In addition to the drivers, team principals from Mercedes [Toto Wolff], Racing Point [owner Lawrence Stroll], and Williams [Simon Roberts] have all tested positive for Covid-19 over the past year.
The 2021 Formula One season has already had to postpone and re-schedule what was supposed to be the initial race of the season – the Australian Grand Prix – due to Australia’s strict Covid-19 protocols and the 2021 season is now currently scheduled to begin with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 28, 2021.
The Australian Grand Prix has been re-scheduled for November 2021.