Sebastian Vettel has not yet travelled to Saudi Arabia as he has still not returned a negative COVID-19 test, his Aston Martin Formula 1 team says.
Vettel missed the season opener in Bahrain after testing positive for COVID-19 prior to the event.
He has been isolating at home in Switzerland since then with Nico Hulkenberg deputising for Aston Martin in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Hulkenberg has also travelled to Saudi Arabia for the second round of the season in case Vettel is unable to return.
Aston Martin said on Thursday morning that Vettel has not tested negative so has not been able to make the journey to Jeddah yet.
It will leave its driver decision until Friday, which gives Vettel another 24 hours to test negative and travel.
Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack said after the Bahrain GP that Vettel’s late absence prior to the season opener came at the worst possible time for the team given the unknown pecking order and early stage of learning everyone is with their cars.
However, he had praised Hulkenberg for the job the German did at short notice.
Hulkenberg outqualified team-mate Lance Stroll but was last of the classified finishers in the race.
“We can say he’s a semi-pro already in replacing others,” said Krack. “But it was a very late call. With logistics and travel and all that matters.
“We had a seat fit that team base but then with all the technical options that you’re trying to develop, you put the reserve driver a bit on the side.
“So what happened is that on Friday morning, we had to recheck the seat, redo the whole thing.
“But Nico is super cool, he’s not making a fuss about it, he gets on with the job.
“And this was really good to have someone with this experience that knows about the limitations you have in such situations.”
