FORMULA ONE bosses are expected to call off the Chinese Grand Prix in the next 24 hours due to the Coronavirus.
The race was due to be held in Shanghai on April 19 but it is set to be postponed following the outbreak in the Far East.
Lewis Hamilton will have to put his aim of delighting his Chinese fans back a bitCredit: Reuters
But F1 chiefs will now look to move the race back to later in the season.
However, the record-breaking 22 race calendar is proving a heartache for bosses to find a suitable date.
Last night, a spokesperson for F1’s owners Liberty Media, would not officially confirm that the race was off.
But the Chinese GP appears to be the latest sporting event to be cancelled following Formula E, World Indoor Athletics Championships, Olympics qualifiers for Boxing and women’s basketball as well as the suspension of football’s Chinese Super League.
We will leave open the opportunity to see if the race can run later in the year
Ross Brawn, F1’s managing director
Ross Brawn, F1’s managing director, had previously said he would look to reschedule the race, admitting that, “there is a probability that it doesn’t happen in April.
“We will leave open the opportunity to see if the race can run later in the year.”
Even on Monday, Mercedes chief Toto Wolff was pressing ahead with plans for the trip to Shanghai and was due to collect a Chinese visa to travel.
Shanghai is 500 miles from Wuhan where the outbreak began last month.
The number of deaths from the virus rose to 1,000 on Tuesday.
Vietnam host Hanoi is only 100 miles from the Chinese border and now there will be question marks over whether that inaugural race on April 5 goes ahead.
Deadline in China
CORONAVIRUS may be killing up to one in five people at the centre of the outbreak who catch it, a study suggests.
The “case fatality ratio” (CFR) for people in Hubei Province is 18 per cent.
Outside China it is between 1.2 and 5.6 per cent, researchers from Imperial College London found.
Variations in diagnosis and care across countries are likely to account for the different outcomes. The figures could also change as health chiefs collect better data on cases, deaths and recovery.
Professor Neil Ferguson said the estimates did not “reflect underlying differences in disease severity between countries.
“All CFR estimates should be viewed cautiously as the sensitivity of surveillance of both deaths and cases in mainland China is unclear,” he said.
There are now more than 40,500 confirmed cases of the virus worldwide, with over 900 deaths.
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Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
