Racing Point confirms a loss of time with the safety protocols introduced in F1

The introduction of new safety protocols in F1 will make mechanics waste time in garages this season.

This week, some F1 teams conducted tests on different tracks in order to familiarize themselves with the new health protocols put in place by Formula 1.

These new protocols require teams to rethink the way they work in the garages, while at the same time respecting the social distancing of team members.

The Racing Point team was at Silverstone last week to work on this very point and team manager Andrew Green explains that it will be more difficult to keep to the schedule during a race weekend, precisely because of the new protocols.

“It’s very different and it will be a real challenge for the future. It changes the time needed to make changes to the car. It changes the time it takes to make changes to the car,” said Andrew Green, quoted by the F1 World Championship website.

“The work is taking longer and we have to try and manage that. We only have a certain amount of time on the track to work on the car. 

“When we are in a racing environment we have curfews in place, so now we have to look at how long it takes to change and modify parts on the car compared to what we would normally do. 

“We have to replan everything to make sure we do what we need to do during a race weekend without breaking curfew rules.

Green added that he hopes the team will not need to change an engine during a race weekend: “I suspect that changing an engine now will take some time. ”

“We can only have certain crew members working on the car aRacingt any one time, and that limits the speed at which you can make a power unit change. 

When asked how much extra time he estimates when changing engines, Green says, “In some cases it can take twice as long. ”