Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel remains doubtful for this weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as he has yet to return a negative test for Covid-19, the team said on Thursday.
The four-times world champion missed the season opener in Bahrain last weekend after testing positive, with reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg replacing him. Aston Martin revealed Hulkenberg will remain on standby for the race in Jeddah.
A statement from the British team read: "Sebastian Vettel has not yet returned the required negative Covid test to fly to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
"Nico Hulkenberg will be in Jeddah to deputise for Seb if necessary.
"We will delay our final decision until Friday to provide Seb every opportunity to race."
Although mandatory testing has been scrapped by Formula One, teams are continuing with the process.
But drivers can still be banned from the paddock if they return a positive test in a country where isolation is not required. It is understood this is unlikely to change anytime soon.
In Vettel's absence, Aston Martin endured a poor start to the new campaign. Lance Stroll finished 12th with Hulkenberg 17th and last.
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
