An advisor to the Red Bull F1 team says he wanted a camp organised so that the team's drivers could be deliberately infected with coronavirus at the same time.
The 2020 season has been delayed until at least June with the first eight races either cancelled or postponed due to COVID-19.
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko believed that exposing his drivers to coronavirus now would help make them immune in the future when the racing season got going again.
The 76-year-old told Austrian TV channel ORF: "We have four Formula 1 drivers and eight or ten juniors.
"The idea was to organise a camp where we could bridge this - mentally and physically - somewhat dead time.
"And that would be the ideal time for the infection to come.
"These are all strong young men in really good health.
"That way they would be prepared whenever the action starts, and you can be ready for what will probably be a very tough championship once it starts."
While Marko may have been convinced it was a good idea, it hardly came as a surprise that his proposal did not go down well with the rest of the Red Bull management.
"Let's put it this way: it has not been well received", he said.
Marko said now the focus was on getting all of the drivers fit and focused during this down time.
"Max [Verstappen], for example, I think he drives more races than in a real season.
"He does sim racing and sometimes competes in several races per day.
"At the same time they all have their own physio, which they use for fitness exercises. That's ideal for working out now.
"If there is a racing season with 15 to 18 races, it will be very, very tough.
"There is no possibility to improve your fitness during the season. So it's actually ideal to use this time now."
Marko also said he suspected he had the coronavirus in February, but that because of limited testing availability in Austria he could not be sure.
"I had what I thought was a severe cold and the symptoms would match corona.
"It was also something that I had never had in this intensity.
"I don't know if it was because the test options are currently very limited. But as soon as there is a chance, I would like to be tested afterwards."
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