Formula One teams are exploring ways to aid government and health authorities in the fight against coronavirus by supplying ventilators.
The coronavirus pandemic has stretched healthcare systems across the world to breaking point. Several F1 teams have applied-technology divisions as part of their operations and are looking at ways to aid the recovery process at a local level.
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UK-based teams Mercedes, McLaren, Red Bull and Williams are believed to have had discussions with F1 this week about various ways in which they could help supply the NHS with ventilators.
According to Reuters, on Thursday Ferrari and Fiat bosses met with a company responsible for building and supplying ventilators to Italian capital Rome.
An F1 spokesman said: “The F1 community is engaged in discussions with all the relevant stakeholders regarding this issue with the purpose of providing as much help and assistance as we can during this time. Those discussions are currently ongoing and we will provide further details in due course.”
The BBC says it is hoped an approach to the crisis can be agreed next week by the F1 teams involved.
The Agnelli family, which owns Fiat Chyrsler, Ferrari’s F1 and road operations, and Italian football giants Juventus, has already donated €10m (£9.3m) for the Italian government to deal with the coronavirus emergency. The family has also purchased 150 ventilators and rolled out a fleet of vehicles to distribute food and medicine to a number of cities in the north of the country.