The Team has clarified the timeline of Lance’s COVID-19 weekend in Germany. As I stated, I found the timeline and narrative from Lance confusing and odd and apparently a lot of other people must have too so the team clarified. See bold clarification at bottom of article.
Perhaps I am connecting dots where there aren’t any dots but do you remember Lance Stroll missing the Eifel Grand Prix and Nico Hulkenberg standing in for him? Do you recall the “too much information” description that team boss Otmar Szafnauer shared with us about Lance’s condition and all the toilet talk?
An article today has a strange headline and odd parsing of words and time. It turns out that Lance Stroll had COVID-19. That makes Lance the second driver to test positive behind his own teammate, Sergio Perez.
The odd thing is the way the headline reads. It says “Stroll reveals positive COVID-19 test after F1 Eifel GP”. This would suggest that the illness he had that prevented him from racing that weekend was not COVID-19 related or that he only contracted COVID-19 after the race weekend.
The manner in which he describes the timeline seems to suggest that he didn’t really have COVID-19 until after the Eifel GP but getting tested Sunday morning and it being positive would suggest that he had COVID-19 over that weekend and that was the cause of his illness and why he didn’t race.
“I just want to let everyone know that I recently tested positive for COVID-19 after the Eifel GP weekend,” he said on social media.
“I am feeling 100% and have since tested negative.
“To fill you on what happened, I arrived at the Nurburgring after testing negative in the normal pre-race tests.
“On Saturday morning I started to feel unwell and woke up with an upset stomach.
“I followed the FIA protocol and self-isolated in my motorhome and did not re-enter the paddock.
“I wasn’t fit to race so I flew home early Sunday morning. As I was still feeling under the weather I took a Covid test on Sunday morning.
“The next day the results came back positive, so I stayed at home self-isolating the for the next 10 days. Luckily, my symptoms were pretty mild.
“I was tested again on Monday this weekend and my results were negative.
“I feel in great shape and I can’t wait to be back with the team and to race in Portugal.”
I am glad he is feeling better and ready to race because it does sound like COVID-19 prevented him from racing in Germany and it also sounded like it wreaked havoc on his stomach.
I am not sure of the timeline but he says he “arrived” in Germany after testing negative so that would suggest the test was done earlier in the week.
Not quite sure why this article and his statement seems to imply he only had COVID-19 after the Eifel GP and not during the weekend which prevented him from racing. He said he tested positive Sunday morning, that’s before the race isn’t it? Not after the Grand Prix.
Also not quite sure why the team are this late and letting folks know that Lance did, indeed, have COVID-19 that weekend. Why announce it two weeks later?
Team Clarification:
“As stated by Lance on social media this morning, Racing Point can confirm that he tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday 11 October,” he said.
“Lance had left the team bubble in Germany on Saturday 10 October as he was unable to compete due to the effect of a recurring stomach upset.
“Lance had first reported an upset stomach during the Russian Grand Prix week and subsequently tested negative for COVID-19 several times, tests taken in line with both the FIA and Racing Point’s own protocols.
“He also tested negative before arrival in Germany in the official pre-event test for the Eifel Grand Prix.
“The upset stomach symptoms returned on Saturday, which forced Lance to withdraw from the race and stay in his motorhome away from the paddock.”
“Based on this clinical assessment, at the time there was no requirement to inform the FIA as to the nature of the illness.
“Lance then flew home to Switzerland on a private plane on Sunday morning.
“In line with Racing Point’s enhanced testing protocol, under which all team members are tested on return from a grand prix, Lance took a COVID-19 test at home and received a positive result the next day.
“He continued to isolate for 10 days from the date of the test, in line with local regulations.
“He returned a negative test on Monday this week and will travel to the Portuguese Grand Prix.”
Ok so the Stroll statement his PR or him posted on his official Facebook has a timestamp of 9:33am and says ‘As I was still feeling under the weather, I took a test on Sunday evening’
The Adam Cooper article pushed at 9:54am on Motorsport says ‘I took a test on Sunday morning’
Either way, he started having symptoms on the Saturday and flew home early Sunday morning with a test on Sunday evening by his own account.
Interesting. So there may be an error in the timeline from Sunday morning vs Sunday evening but as you say, his symptoms were there Saturday. I just find the wording, headlines and statements odd. IF he had COVID at the Eifel GP and missed the race because of it, then just say that. Why parse the time of the test and the time of the result?
So its my guess here, and I don’t know for sure but when Valentino Rossi in MotoGP last weekend tested positive, his statement said he had a ‘quick test’ and a second type of test later. As it seems F1 do the same thing trackside, I think what Stroll is pointing too by saying the result was the next day is it went off to a lab for results on his second test. I don’t know the exact differences but I’d say that’s what he’s saying. Why he waited until later on the Sunday before getting the second test, taking… Read more »
Also why its taken them until he’s ‘in the clear’ to release this info, I don’t know.
So now the team have released more info, I’m not really sure. It sounds like they believed it wasn’t covid as they’d had a negative test on it in Russia with similar symptoms and a negative at the Nurburgring upon entry so they isolated out of caution and sent him home. They must have had suspicions with the medic and also the second test in line with the team once home but I suppose if the tests keep saying negative then you have to assume negative…. https://the-race.com/formula-1/racing-point-explains-stroll-inaction-before-covid-diagnosis/