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 Five of the last eight rounds of the championship are in regions
where Zika has been reported -- Singapore and Malaysia before Texas
and Mexico in October and Brazil in November.
Authorities in Singapore said they had detected 151 people with Zika
as of midday Thursday. The first locally-transmitted infection was
reported on Saturday.
The floodlit Singapore Grand Prix, one of the most popular races on
the calendar and held at night in the steamy city state, is
scheduled for Sept. 18 with team staff, sponsors and media there for
days before.
While teams have had plenty of time to prepare for Brazil, and Texas
has had no reported cases of Zika transmitted by mosquitoes, sources
indicated Singapore could pose more of a logistical headache if key
staff opt out at short notice on medical advice.
Those willing to discuss their plans at the Italian Grand Prix said
they had not experienced any late pullouts so far, however.
"We are supplying anti-mosquito products and long-sleeved outfits
and we have sent yesterday a brief to everybody about how to take
care and all the why, what and how about it," McLaren Racing
Director Eric Boullier told Reuters.
"Everybody is going," he added.
Manor racing director Dave Ryan said his team were taking the
'normal precautions'.
"We've briefed all the guys, we're offering them the option of
wearing long-sleeved garments and obviously supplying them with the
right protection...and just making them as informed as they possibly
can be," he told Reuters.
"And it's fine. We're comfortable with it."
The Zika virus, which has spread through the Americas and the
Caribbean since late last year, has been linked to microcephaly - a
severe birth defect in which babies are born with abnormally small
heads and underdeveloped brains.
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Several countries, including the United States, have warned pregnant
women or those trying to have children not to travel to Singapore,
where the race promoter has said planning for the event is going
ahead "as per normal".
Williams' Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas, who was in Brazil last
month for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics where swimmer girlfriend
Emilia Pikkarainen was competing, was one of those drivers unaware
of the Singapore outbreak.
"I haven't heard about it...I'll need to keep the overalls on,
then," he said. "I'm still going. That's for sure."
Nico Rosberg, the German who is battling Mercedes team mate Lewis
Hamilton for the title and who became a father for the first time
last year, expressed more concern.
"As a family man now I will be very interested and I will look into
it," he told Reuters when asked about Singapore. "I started
discussions on it already yesterday, actually."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)
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