AlphaTauri team gets COVID-19 jab in Bahrain

AlphaTauri F1 boss Franz Tost says his entire team has received its first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, courtesy of the Bahrain government.

Bahrain is currently implementing a national vaccination program for its citizens and residents, but ahead of Formula 1's visit to the Kingdom for pre-season testing and the first round of the F1 world championship, the Persian Gulf state extended an offer to vaccinate all F1 personnel.

Formula 1 declined the offer as a group, leaving the decision to enter Bahrain's vaccination program or not to individual members of its staff, an approach also followed by most teams.

Red Bull's Sergio Perez and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz revealed on Friday that they had accepted the country's COVID-19 vaccination offer and received their first dose. And the entire AlphaTauri squad has followed suit.

• Read also: Perez and Sainz take up Bahrain COVID-19 vaccination offer

"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."

Both Aston Martin and Alpine, whose staff are based in the UK for the most part, have left the vaccination choice to each individual team member.

"We decided to leave it up to the individuals," said Aston 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."

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