Renault first F1 team to sell COVID-19 face masks

Renault is the first Formula 1 team to add branded coronavirus face masks to its official merchandise.

The team is selling masks with the team’s black and yellow colours and logo, as well as a plain black mask. The masks also feature the team’s new 2020 title sponsor DP World.

They are available to purchase singularly for €4.99, a ‘week pack’ bundle of five masks for €24.95, or a ‘family pack’ of 10 for €49.99. All profits from the sale of the masks will be donated to associations.

Renault says the reusable masks are to be worn “to protect against COVID-19” and have a 90% protection efficiency against the virus for a maximum duration of four hours of continuous use before they need to be washed.

The French manufacturer adds the masks meet the latest AFNOR/Apave hygiene specifications.

It marks the first time an F1 team has begun stocking branded face masks through their merchandise stores to sell.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently changed its official guidance on the use of face masks, recommending that governments should encourage people to wear fabric coverings where social distancing is not possible and that the over-60s should wear ‘medical’ masks in specific circumstances.

Esteban Ocon was one of the drivers who opted to wear a face mask in the Melbourne paddock during the Australian Grand Prix before the race was abandoned.

Following Mercedes’s two-day Silverstone test last week, Renault will hold a private test with its 2018 car on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Red Bull Ring in Austria to practice F1’s new health and safety protocols in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The delayed 2020 F1 season will begun with a behind closed doors Austrian Grand Prix on July 5.