Three Formula One team members have been placed into isolation amid concerns they may have contracted the coronavirus, as the decision to go ahead with the Australian Grand Prix comes under renewed fire. One member from McLaren and two from the Haas teams were evaluated at the circuit’s isolation unit, established by F1, after showing fever symptoms at the track.

The team members have been tested for the virus and placed under self-isolation at their hotels. There will be significant concern if their tests return positive as they have been mixing in the paddock while carrying the virus, potentially seriously escalating the threat of the coronavirus preventing the grand prix taking place.

Depending on the results of the tests the situation is expected to develop rapidly on Thursday. The Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, which represents the 20 drivers on the grid, is understood to be in touch with all of them to raise their concerns with F1, the FIA and the race organisers. They are concerned over the safety of the teams and fans with the race still set to go ahead and up to 80,000 people expected to attend the first practice session scheduled for Friday.

Should the three team members be proven to have the coronavirus, there will be huge pressure on F1 and the FIA to react and address the key question of whether the race should now be cancelled. Both bodies thus far have taken a stance of monitoring and assessing the situation as it developed but leaving the decision making process to race promoters and national and state governing bodies in Australia. No statement had been made by either F1 or the FIA as of Wednesday night in Melbourne.

Both the FIA and F1 have insisted the safety of the teams’ personnel and fans is paramount and now they will be expected to take a lead in ensuring that is the case. A press conference from both organisations is expected on Thursday in Melbourne.

The potential threat from the coronavirus spreading due to F1 was also causing disquiet among health service workers in Melbourne. “I was surprised that the Victorian government has decided to stage the Grand Prix,” said Melbourne-based GP, Dr Mariam Tokhi. “I’m not privy to the economic calculations, but I am worried that they are putting my community at risk by going ahead. And we health-workers will have to deal with the escalation of infections.”

“We have taken an extraordinarily big risk in order to hold a car race,” said John Daley, the CEO of the Grattan Institute thinktank. “This risks taking us from a situation where we had virtually no community transmission to one where we are forced to shut down a lot of community activities to prevent a lot of people from dying.”

A spokesperson for the Victorian government said it would monitor the situation but did not say, when asked, that it would cancel the event. “Many people are being tested for Covid-19 in Victoria every day,” the spokesman said. “If a test comes back positive, there is a clear process that is followed, including determining any travel history, close contacts and public exposure sites.”

While premier Daniel Andrews has indicated that Victoria may, at some stage, move to cancel large gatherings to prevent the virus from spreading, the current advice from the state’s chief health officer permitting large gatherings is unchanged. “We will continue to keep the public informed about new confirmed cases,” the government spokesman said.

Australia has 112 cases of the coronavirus and three people have died from the disease here. The country has banned the arrival of all Italian nationals as of 6pm on Wednesday. Amid calls for the race to be cancelled, the words “STOP F1” were written in the skies above Sydney as concerns over the influx of people and a mass gathering might have in spreading the virus.

Of particular concern has been the arrival of team personnel from Italy, which extends beyond just Ferrari. The AlphaTauri team is also based in the country as is F1’s tyre supplier Pirelli, whose headquarters is in Milan. The Haas and Alfa Romeo teams also use Ferrari engines.

Daley highlighted his concern that team members may not show symptoms initially but could still be transmitting the disease. “The risk that we are running is that someone gets off a plane, quite possibly going to the grand prix,” he said. “We don’t catch the fact that they’ve got this virus, they wind up giving it to people they come into contact with at the grand prix. That becomes obvious some five or 10 days later and by then we’re in a world in which there is substantial community transmission in Australia.”

The state of Victoria reported three new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday bringing the total to 21. Two schools in Melbourne have been closed because of the outbreak.

“We are certainly running a very big risk,” Daley added. “Actually what the government has [effectively] said is that the value of running the grand prix in Australia with a big audience is greater than the potential cost of that risk.”

The words ‘Stop F1’ are seen over the Sydney sky on Wednesday. Photograph: David Gray/AFP via Getty Images

The Chinese Grand Prix has already been postponed and the next race scheduled to take place in Bahrain the week after the Australian GP will be held behind closed doors. More than 80,000 spectators a day are expected to attend the meeting in Albert Park on Friday and Saturday, with over 100,000 for the race on Sunday. Andrew Westacott, the Australian GP chief executive, has said that international sales of tickets have been very strong.

There was also concern about such numbers of people expressed by associate professor Julian Rait, president of AMA Victoria. “The AMA has confidence in the decision-making of the chief medical officer and the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee,” he said. “However, we do have some reservations about such a large public gathering being held during the escalation phase of this epidemic.”

The Australian Grand Prix Corporation on Wednesday dropped autograph sessions and the opportunity for fans to take selfies with drivers in an attempt to lower risks of potential infection, while Renault pulled its drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon from a press conference at the last minute.

In logistical terms for the teams, equipment and personnel are already in Melbourne. Air freight, including the cars, left Europe as of Wednesday of last week and some personnel shortly afterwards. The majority of team members will have left well before Australia closed its borders to anyone from Italy and well before Italy’s government imposed a complete lockdown on Tuesday.

However it is understood that personnel arriving from Italy after the Australian government imposed the stricter controls have been allowed entry after being individually assessed upon arrival. Westacott believed they were being sufficiently careful. “They’ve had to ensure they comply with Italian travel requirements coming out of Italy, and they’ve got to comply with Border Force requirements coming into Australia,” he said.

F1’s governing body the FIA has established what it calls a “crisis cell” which will meet every two days to monitor the situation. Similarly F1 management maintains a position of assessment and advice. On Monday they issued a statement declaring they were in “constant dialogue with promoters, governmental bodies and expert health authorities to ensure the safeguarding of everyone inside and around the sport”. The position of both organisations suggests the onus on decision making regarding cancelling meetings is being put on promoters and state bodies.

On Wednesday Formula E postponed their third race of the season, the E-prix set to be held in Jakarta on 6 June. The series has already postponed meetings in Rome and Sanya in China. The Le Mans 24 Hours motorbike endurance race scheduled for 18-19 April has also been postponed until September, suggesting that the Formula E meeting in Paris on 18 April is also in doubt.

Calla Wahlquist contributed to this report