F1 2023 - Round 6: Emilia-Romagna

dulpit

It's race week...

• Friday
  • FP1: 12:30
  • FP2: 16:00
• Saturday
  • FP3: 11:30
  • Qualifying: 15:00
• Sunday
  • Race: 14:00
• Channel 4 times
  • Saturday highlights: 19:30
  • Sunday highlights: 18:30

Current Driver Top 5:

1. Max Verstappen - 119
2. Sergio Perez - 105
3. Fernando Alonso - 75
4. Lewis Hamilton - 56
5. Carlos Sainz - 44

Current Constructor Top 5:

1. Red Bull - 224
2. Aston Martin - 102
3. Mercedes - 96
4. Ferrari - 78
5. McLaren - 14

dulpit

https://twitter.com/MercedesAMGF1/status/1658046892171730946?t=DLF24iqApjxXi5Y32n0W2A&s=19

The one with the lols

Cool_CM

Flying over on Thursday as things stand, but the weather isn't looking good at all (Red weather warnings this week).

Jordan 199

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120603237#Comment_120603237

You can be our pit lane reporter for the weekend.

afatbollix

Bring a jacket!

MadYaker

They've evacuated the paddock, forecast looks rough, hard to know what will happen.

Itssoeasy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120605145#Comment_120605145

I wasn’t worried until I saw the news they’d evacuated the track earlier today. The pictures from the area look awful, and while it looks like the severity of the rain will ease, we’ve seen the FIA be very risk adverse when it comes to rain and putting drivers in harms way, and I personally do want another Belgium Grand Prix where they get token laps in to tick the box.

Harika

Looks not good for the race. Very bad what my work colleagues from Italy tell me.

ricimaki

Well, this was meant to be the first F1 race I attended. Looking less likely now. Hope everyone in the area is safe.

All reports I've seen so far suggest a few towns around Imola are badly flooded, with some of the main roads and train lines closed. Definitely not something you want to add a major sporting event in on top of.

I wonder if they could move the race to either Monza or Mugello, given that they have a few days notice. Would probably have to limit it to 1 practice session, and possibly Sunday morning qualifying, but could be doable.

MadYaker

Hard to know what will happen but a race does seem unlikely at the moment. A decision won’t be made until Friday I reckon.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120606657#Comment_120606657

Sorry to hear you're missing it. Must be disappointing but you rightly point out the broader context.

They probaby need all kinds of planning to host a race. Imagine the safety checks they'd need to do on the track. They'd have no time to fix any issues if they found them. I imagine they'd need months of notice rather than days.

But fans would surely be out of the question so there's no incentive for a track to host if they can't make any money.

artanevilla

Teams have been told not to travel there today.

MadYaker

Hard to see it going ahead to be honest. 3 people have died so far and there’s significant flooding in a lot of the Emilia Romagna region, power cuts, roads washed out etc. Imola doesn’t seem as bad as other areas within the region but the river a few metres from the track is a problem with more rain forecast.

Considering the amount of resources needed to host a GP in terms of emergency personnel and all the stewards, who are presumably from the local area, not to mention the logistics of getting hundreds of thousands of spectators to and from the track over 3 days, I don’t think it’ll happen but I could be wrong. Maybe a 2020 style race with no spectators and just the essential personnel would be more feasible?

Busi_Girl08

I can't see them risking it from a safety (and, let's face it - PR) perspective. Especially with people having already died and now with teams being delayed getting there. The logistics of getting everything organised and turned around in time at this stage seems nuts.

Is there any word on the F2?

EDIT: That being said, Saudi went ahead when there were missile attacks going on nearby. Money talks...

MadYaker

The F2 paddock is already flooded, there are pictures on the F1 Reddit. Only a foot or so of standing water but still not great.

Busi_Girl08

There's an update due at 2pm local time (1pm here), going by commentary on social media it's sounding more and more likely it's going to be cancelled. Makes the most sense, with the death toll growing they just can't justify taking away emergency personnel/vehicles from helping locals for a race.

PsychoPete

Race called off

https://twitter.com/F1/status/1658793544918679553?t=EPg3x12lVD7PXr7B-RiVZA&s=19

Larbre34

F1 had no choice if the public services that would typically be part of the event management will be needed elsewhere.

There are more important things in life.

And its probably something F1 will have to consider in its calendar planning over the years to come, weather extremes, of heat and precipitation affecting fixtures.

Busi_Girl08

Absolutely the right decision. Remains to be seen now if that's Imola gone for the year or if they'll try reschedule it later in the year. Heard mention of the 4-6th of August on Reddit, which seems to be part of the summer break.

El_Duderino 09

Much better to make the decision early. Fair play.

ELM327

At least it was a timely decision, well done for once!

flazio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120607506#Comment_120607506

According to Andrew Benson on the BBC, F1 will look to reschedule but it's unlikely given the packed schedule already.

Focus turns to Monaco.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

That's a shame, but 100% the right decision.

flazio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120607709#Comment_120607709

F1 will look at options for rescheduling the race but it is considered unlikely to make a return because of the crowded schedule.

Source

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix: Imola race called off because of major flooding - https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/65621373

McFly85

Absolutely the correct call. It’s a shame but it’s obvious that it needed to be called off. Fair play to them for the quick decision on it.

AMKC

Yes right decision and I am delighted it was this weekend too and I'm okay with it as have a wedding to attend.

MadYaker

Good to see F1 make the right call with no fcuking around for once, well done. It’s a shame but there’s other racing, 24hrs of the Nurburgring and Indy 500 qualifying so all is not lost.

KillerShamrock

Well everyone knows the money would stop the missiles in saudi that time so thats why they raced there/then. This though is a different story and 100% the right decision cant believe anyone would say its the wrong one but sure cess pit twatter will provide.

Only positive here is its not another redbull 1-2 / embarassment for the rest of the grid. hopefully the people and region will get the place sorted/recover once the rains stop and the waters recede

quokula

Right decision and only possible decision really given the circumstances. They say it may be rearranged but I had a look at the calendar and there isn't a single weekend available that wouldn't either create a quadruple header or a multi-continent triple header, unless they cut into the summer break but hard to see that being agreed.

MadYaker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120608502#Comment_120608502

I think they might consider it, they’ve already had a 4 week break this season.

Itssoeasy

the right call when you see the pictures from yesterday. F1 is important to us as fans but it’s does have a bar where it’s importance doesn’t go above and safety of others in an area that was very hard hit is one area.

dublinman1990

The events unfolding at Imola are a huge tragedy. It unfortunate to read that the death toll is gradually rising as the authorities try to deal with the horrible flooding in the region.

At least 8 people killed in Imola now according to the latest news reports.

Not only that there have been 37 towns and communities affected by the floods. 120 landslides have officially been registered by the local authorities in the region.

The area really is in a very bad state.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/two-dead-thousands-evacuated-floods-hit-northern-italy-2023-05-17/

I also heard on social media today that AlphaTauri's Twitter account have put up details of an emergency appeal to help out the people who were affected by the floods in Imola.

https://twitter.com/AlphaTauriF1/status/1658728891727347712?s=20

Cool_CM

Absolutely 100% the right call by F1 on this one.

quokula

There’s been a suggestion gathering momentum on Twitter that they do a virtual Imola GP like the ones that ran during covid and sell tickets or set up a system for donations in support of the local area. Been picked up by some of the smaller motorsport media outlets now too, though there’s absolutely no indication of any plans to actually do it.

Nice idea if they could do something like that though. Obviously we’ve seen some teams and drivers sharing links to donation pages already but an event like that would garner so much more support.

flazio

Credit to Yuki here.

https://twitter.com/F1/status/1659292275782873092?t=SlnUSip_2qoBuXi5nq_0aw&s=19

Itssoeasy

https://youtu.be/bflJGN9YByM

I’ll try this again in the right thread. The F1 YouTube channel are streaming the 2005 race.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120619877#Comment_120619877

They are also going to stream the 2021 Emilia-Romagna at 8pm.

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