Since Tuesday, the Mercedes team has been at Silverstone to conduct private tests before the official restart of the 2020 season in Austria, in July.
Mercedes chief engineer Andrew Shovlin confirmed that the team was tested before going to the Silverstone circuit and that no member was infected with the coronavirus.
These private tests are primarily used by the team to familiarize themselves with the new health standards implemented by F1 in the paddock, while the drivers take the opportunity to take their marks behind the wheel of a single-seater.
Six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas returned to the track with the 2018 Mercedes W09 on Tuesday and Wednesday ahead of returning to racing in Austria next month.
“We are almost finished the second day here at Silverstone. We are here with the racing team and the drivers. We mainly try to prepare ourselves to race in Austria and to make sure that all the procedures not to transmit the virus work without hindering the race.” Andrew said.
“Here you will see a lot of people wearing the mask, we do that as soon as we cannot maintain the safety distances and in the garage too, we keep the distances between people.
“Obviously the difficulty arises when the mechanics are around the car since it is complicated to keep this gap between them.
“To come here, everyone has been tested. No one on the team has the virus yet. We are therefore fairly confident that with these procedures we will be able to keep the team safe and we hope that the sport can continue and that we will have success in the race.” Andrew added.
The curtailed F1 season will start with two races behind closed doors in Austria on July 5 and July 12 followed by six other GPs in Europe.
