Racing Point F1 boss Otmar Szafnauer insists the team had no issue with the two-day trip Sergio Perez took to Mexico before the positive COVID test that sidelined him for the British Grand Prix.
Racing Point has called on Nico Hulkenberg to replace Perez this weekend after the Mexican driver contracted the coronavirus. On Friday, Perez revealed he had gone home to Mexico to see his mother after she left a stint in hospital.
Szafnauer dismissed the suggestion Perez made the trip without consent of the team, saying it was nothing out of the ordinary.
“We’ve got no clauses in the contract where he’s got to ask permission to go back to his family,” Szafnauer said. “I think his family was in Mexico, and it’s not a surprise that he went back to Mexico; that’s what he’s done forever while he’s been driving for us.
“We did, though, discuss how he was flying there and back, and it was always by a private flight, never commercially. There’s no issue with that.”
Szafnauer pointed out that areas near to Racing Point’s Silverstone factory in England are currently locked down due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing,” he said. “There are many people that are in hot spots all around the world.
“We have a big contingent of our factory who live in Northampton, and you know Northampton was shut down as well. So our philosophy is we take all the precautions necessary in light of where we are travelling.
“And if we do take those precautions, I’m confident that we won’t get the virus. We just need to now forensically look back and try to ascertain how Checo became infected, and make sure that we cover that off in the future.”
It is unclear whether Perez will also be forced to miss the second race at Silverstone, which takes places next weekend.
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