20/03/2020
NEWS STORY
With no racing for the foreseeable future, the 2021 technical regulations postponed and approval given to continue racing their current chassis next season, the F1 teams would appear to have a certain amount of 'free time' on their hands.
However, despite the forthcoming mandatory shutdown, a number of teams are to work with the authorities in a bid to produce ventilators for victims of the coronavirus.
"The F1 community is engaged in discussions with all the relevant stakeholders regarding this issue and we will provide further details in due course," a spokesperson told the BBC.
Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Williams all have applied-technology divisions that can assist with the production capacity of ventilators while all the teams have the advanced manufacturing capabilities required to make such complex devices.
Rather than new designs, the idea is merely to increase manufacturing capacity at a time an estimated 20,000 ventilators are needed in the UK alone.
Working with Innovate UK, the High Value Manufacturing Catapult team and UCL and University College London Hospitals, the teams are evaluating a number of routes in conjunction with existing manufacturers and organisations from the aerospace and automotive sectors.
It is hoped this work, which is being rapidly progressed, will produce a tangible outcome in the next few days.
The move follows a ten million euro donation from the Agnelli family, which controls Ferrari and Fiat, to the Italian government in a bid to assist its efforts to cope with the virus.