MOTORSPORT: Hamilton in Coronavirus isolation

Lewis Hamilton has isolated himself because two celebrities he was with almost three weeks ago have the Coronavirus, while an extension of Formula 1's grand prix cancellations now looms into June.

America's Indianapolis 500 in late May surely will be another victim, which would also mean Supercar champion Scott McLaughlin's IndyCar debut on the Indianapolis road course two weeks earlier will be off.

All offices of Motorsport Australia – formerly the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport – are now closed for the foreseeable future, although staff are still working online and by phone. MA's membership hotline, 1300 883 959, is still open.

Virtual racing is starting to fill the voids created by the cancellation of so many major events.

While Supercars and the carsales TCR Australia Series prepare to launch their online alternatives in coming days, esports have gathered momentum on bigger stages with 'races' running in place of postponed F1 GPs, NASCAR rounds and American GT racing.

A virtual Bahrain GP was run last night on the official F1 2019 PC video game.

But the driver who gamers would most identify with, Max Verstappen, was not part of it and there was no sign of our Daniel Ricciardo.

"I never play that game [developed by Codemasters]," Verstappen told Autosport.com.

"It will take days to understand the game just a little bit better and I don't want to get into it right now.

"Also, I'm very busy with the other racing games.

"So switching between all those games just doesn't work for me.

"And, on top of that, I always race to win. I'm not going to drive around somewhere at the back. I'd rather not participate at all."

Despite missing its potential biggest drawcard, the F1 game's settings have been modified to encourage close racing, with equal car performance through fixed set-ups, reduced vehicle damage and optional anti-lock brakes and traction control.

Fans will get the chance to 'race' F1 drivers on the weekends there isn't a virtual GP.

Meanwhile, the Azerbaijan GP scheduled for early June is expected to be postponed today to avoid a repeat of Melbourne, where a temporary street circuit was set up only for the race to be cancelled.

It will mean the F1 season won't start until at least the Canadian GP in mid-June.

Six-time world champion Hamilton has isolated himself because two celebrities he mingled with in London before coming to Australia – British actor Idris Elba and Canadian TV presenter and prime minister's wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau – have tested positive to COVID-19.

Hamilton says he's not having a test for the virus because he's not showing any symptoms and is "feeling healthy".

Dale Earnhardt Junior, long the most popular figure in American stock car racing but retired from competition, is making a "comeback" for NASCAR's iRacing series, as is 55-year-old former Cup champion Bobby Labonte.

Thirteen of today's top 20 NASCAR racers – including reigning champion Kyle Busch and Team Penske's Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski – are locked in too.

IndyCar's online racing will start next weekend.

The IndyCar organisation has already made payments from its 'Leaders Circle' contingency fund to teams that know they won't race in the next few weeks and face cancellation of the Indy 500 and the Indy GP at which McLaughlin was to make his North American open-wheeler debut with Penske.

A member of the World Rally Championship organising company's staff tested positive to COVID-19 after the shortened Rally Mexico, although he had not been in the service park there.

Sebastien Ogier, the six-time world champion who scored his first win for Toyota in that event, posted subsequently that "this rally should not have happened".