Extended factory shutdown likely – Wolff

Apr.6 (GMM) A further factory shutdown period because of the coronavirus crisis is likely in Formula 1, according to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.

To help cope with the crisis, the teams agreed to bring forward the usual August shutdown to now, and extend it to three weeks instead of two.

“It’s fixed for three weeks, and then it will probably be extended for another three weeks,” Wolff told Osterreich.

“We have switched the engine factory to the production of special units to keep people from needing ventilation in the intensive care unit,” he added.

“It usually takes half a year to develop something like that, but we did it in 100 hours. Now we are ramping up production to 10,000 units a week.”