‘Now Out of Quarantine’ – Toto Wolff Confirms Contracting Coronavirus During F1 Shutdown

Mercedes’ boss, Toto Wolff, has revealed that he had contracted coronavirus during the F1 shutdown and was quarantined in Austria. He has assured that he had no symptoms and is still preparing for the upcoming 2021 Formula 1 season.

“We planned to stay for some days in Kitzbühel, then out of nowhere I had a positive covid test. So we quarantined ourselves for 10 days here. Thankfully we didn’t exhibit any symptoms, because it can also go badly, but we are now out of quarantine.” said the Austrian.

This is the second Mercedes spearhead that has contracted the virus. Lewis Hamilton also tested positive for the virus after the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend mid-season. As a result, the champion was in isolation and had to sit out the Sakhir Grand Prix race weekend.

In the absence of Lewis Hamilton, George Russell got the opportunity to take the wheel for Mercedes that weekend. The young Briton impressed everyone with his drive that weekend, something that probably haunts Hamilton’s current contract negotiations with Mercedes.

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Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton contract negotiation saga

As Mercedes’ boss, one of the most pressing tasks on Toto Wolff’s table at the moment is the contract with Lewis Hamilton. The contract negotiation saga has continued for more than a month now; the negotiations first started mid-season.

After winning the championship, Hamilton clarified his intentions of a few more years in Formula 1. Wolff had stated earlier that they are looking to sign a contract by Christmas, but the deadline was extended.

Now, with only two months left for the 2021 season, the contract negotiations are still not over. Hamilton recently broke his social media hiatus and clarified that there is “lots of work ongoing in the background.”

However, Wolff has clarified that it could take up to pre-season testing to finalize the contract. Surely, Mercedes’ boss has a lot on his table with such a short time before the season starts.

The question that beckons is whether this positive result will delay the announcement of the much-awaited contract.