McLaren's Brown hopes F1 will loosen Covid paddock rules

McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown hopes that Formula 1 will relax part of its Covid-19 paddock restrictions at upcoming races to help teams connect more freely with their corporate partners.

Strict safety rules and criteria have been in force for over a year in Grand Prix racing's paddock to ensure the good health of its members.

From isolated traveling of team members to mandatory testing, to social distancing to the teams' segregated bubbles, everything has been done, with a fair amount of success, to protect F1's community against the threat of the coronavirus.

F1 has loosened a few restrictions this season compared to last year, but Brown believes a relaxation of more measures is on order in the interests of the teams and their commercial partners or prospects.

"It was a topic this weekend and [F1 CEO] Stefano [Domenicali] and the FIA acknowledge this and suggested they are going to come back and make some further changes," Brown told Reuters.

"I think the sport is going to react. Now that it’s been tabled and discussed and all the teams agree that we need to start loosening it up, I’d like to think maybe we could get something done for Monza."

©McLaren

Brown is by no means being complacent towards the global pandemic. But the McLaren boss believes that everyone is now familiar with the protocols that are in place and is acting responsibly to safeguard their health.

"We all think this is going to be here for a long time now," added Brown, who was forced to miss this summers' British Grand prix after testing positive for Covid in July.

"So everyone’s starting to learn how to deal with it and live with it responsibly and I think that’s what we need to do.

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"We still pretty much have almost the same protocols as when this was going on a year ago. It’s started to loosen up but I think we need to make sure we’re taking care of our corporate partners.

"I think I should be able to go up to the Paddock Club, socially distanced, and talk to my guests and bring the drivers up. And on a limited basis bring the partners down to see the car in the garage, socially distanced."

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