Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff says there remains a possibility that Lewis Hamilton may return to Formula 1 action for the season finale in Abu Dhabi next weekend.
Hamilton was ruled out of this weekend’s race in Bahrain after he tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, forcing him to isolate for 10 days, and is suffering from mild symptoms.
George Russell has been called up by Mercedes to replace Hamilton at the team, and ended the first practice session on top of the timesheets.
However, it isn’t clear if Russell will remain with the Brackley-based squad in Abu Dhabi, as Wolff didn’t rule out the chance of seven-time World Champion Hamilton making his return.
“We’ve seen tests were negative within 10 days so that is perfectly feasible in my opinion, but it would be a very positive development.
“Nevertheless you need to look at the situation anyway because there is many athletes in sports out there that have tested positive for a long time after any symptoms and after being any way infectious.
“So it’s something the FIA needs to look into anyway.”
When asked if Hamilton was watching FP1 while in isolation, Wolff replied: “I don’t know, probably not, he has better things to do than watching an FP1 session.
“He’s recovering, the first few days are always critical once you catch coronavirus. He’s OK, he has symptoms, but they are relatively mild.”
Hamilton is the third F1 driver to test positive for Covid-19 this year, with Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll contracting the virus earlier in the season.
