Haas now has four team members in self-isolation after they showed signs of the coronavirus upon landing in Australia earlier this week.
On Wednesday it emerged that two of Haas’ staff were being tested for the virus while one team member from McLaren was also in self-isolation.
While both teams, and the paddock as a whole, waited for those results two more of Haas staff began showing signs.
They too have been tested and are in self-isolation at their hotel as they all wait for the results.
“We should get the results in the afternoon,” Haas team boss Guenther Steiner told ESPN “Until then, I don’t know anything, I don’t want to speculate and I am not a doctor.
“Hopefully they come back negative and we keep on going like we want to.”
While Haas has not revealed what those four employees do, Steiner admits it will be a problem for the team if they cannot participate in the weekend’s events.
“We will cross that bridge if we come to it,” he said. “We are just waiting to get the result and I hope they are negative.
“Alternative plans are difficult because nobody can come here [to replace them] anymore either time wise or permit wise.
“So we need to come up with something and in racing you always find solutions. But first I want to know the problem before I find the solution.”
While the health of the five F1 personnel is paramount, their test results could also decide whether the Australian GP progresses as planned.
Earlier this week Brett Sutton, chief health officer for the sate of Victoria, revealed if anyone in the paddock tested positive, the race could be called off.
“I think for these three crew members, if they turn up positive, we need to consider what it means for their close contacts and if they have a number of close contacts across a number of crews, then those individuals need to be quarantined,” he told Melbourne radio station 3AW.
“If that effectively shuts down the race, then so be it, we’ll make that call.
“It’ll depend on those tests. If they are all negative, if everyone else who’s got symptoms is negative and hasn’t exposed other crew, then I say that they can carry on.
“But if there are positive crew and they’ve exposed a number of others, then all of those contacts need to be in quarantine. So it’ll be a question of whether the teams have the operational staff to continue.”
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