The Chinese Grand Prix has been postponed because of the outbreak of the coronavirus. The race was due to take place in Shanghai on 19 April. Formula One and the sport’s governing body, the FIA, have made it clear the health and wellbeing of their personnel was paramount in the decision.

F1 and the FIA announced on Wednesday they had accepted a request from the meeting’s promoters to postpone the race as the coronavirus continues to spread. The promoters hope to reschedule the meeting but it seems highly unlikely to be achievable.

“The health and safety of people come first,” said Chase Carey, F1’s chief executive, at a conference in Baku. A joint statement from F1 and the FIA echoed his position: “As a result of continued health concerns and with the World Health Organization declaring the coronavirus as a global health emergency, the FIA and Formula 1 have taken these measures in order to ensure the health and safety of the travelling staff, championship participants and fans, which remains of primary concern.”

The coronavirus has claimed more than a thousand lives in China, and Shanghai is just 500 miles from Wuhan, where the outbreak began.

Two weeks ago Dr Sergio Brusin, a senior expert at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in Stockholm, told the Guardian he expected the event to be cancelled. “If the infection keeps on spreading at this pace I would not be optimistic at having an F1 ticket in my pocket,” he said.

At the time F1 and the FIA were monitoring the situation and the teams continued with their preparations. On Monday the Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, said that he would be attending the Chinese embassy that day as part of his visa application process.

However, there remained a clear danger to both F1 personnel and of further spreading the virus. Up to 2,000 people across teams, logistics, staff, hospitality and broadcasters can be required for a race weekend. They would be potentially exposed to the virus and the vast majority would then return to Europe, risking spreading the infection. Last year an estimated 70,000 people attended the grand prix on race day, the type of mass participation event the Chinese government wants to prevent.

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This is the first postponement of a race since the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2011 which was ultimately cancelled because of civil unrest. That process was long and drawn out but so clear has been the threat in China that the relevant parties have acted relatively swiftly. By the end of this week F1 and team freight that travels by ship would have to be on its way to Shanghai. The teams have not issued formal reactions but it is known they do concur with the statement made by the FIA and F1.

If the promoter requests to postpone the race for safety reasons their intent would be to reschedule in order to ensure they do not lose their race fee. However with a 22-race season this year, finding a new slot would be exceptionally difficult, as Carey acknowledged.

“There certainly would be challenges in fitting things into a schedule,” he said. “We haven’t really worked through all the possibilities, but I think there’ll be challenges to dealing with it.”

Any new date would be subject to a drastic decrease in the coronavirus threat. However if that was the case options are still very limited. During F1’s summer break a two-week minimum period is stipulated as time off to ensure personnel have a break and the European calendar already has a full run of dates. Later in the season the Russian GP, set for September and scheduled between the Singapore and Japanese GPs, has already ruled out exchanging dates with China.

Moving to the end of the season is conceivable but Abu Dhabi pays a high dividend to host the final race and would not be inclined to relinquish it.

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Inserting the race between Brazil and Abu Dhabi in November would create a triple-header that the teams have tried in Europe and found impossibly gruelling. Doing so over three continents seems unfeasible. While the official line remains postponement, cancellation seems almost inevitable.

Focus now will turn to Vietnam’s first F1 grand prix due to take place on 5 April in Hanoi, which is located 100 miles from the Chinese border. As of Wednesday the country had confirmed 15 cases of the coronavirus. Currently F1 insists the Vietnam race remains fully on schedule.