2023 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix | |||
---|---|---|---|
![]() Layout of the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari | |||
Race details [1] [2] | |||
Date | Planned for 21 May 2023 | ||
Official name | Formula 1 Qatar Airways Gran Premio del Made in Italy e dell'Emilia-Romagna 2023 | ||
Location | Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari Imola, Emilia-Romagna, Italy | ||
Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
Course length | 4.909 km (3.050 miles) | ||
Scheduled distance | 63 laps, 309.049 km (192.034 miles) |
The 2023 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Qatar Airways Gran Premio del Made in Italy e dell'Emilia-Romagna 2023) was a scheduled Formula One motor race set to be held on 21 May 2023, at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy. On 17 May, Formula One Management announced the cancellation of the race due to sudden floods in the region. [3]
The event was set to be held across the weekend of 19–21 May 2023. [1] It would have been the sixth round of the 2023 Formula One World Championship.
The Grand Prix was set to be the first of two to trial a new qualifying format that mandates specific tyre compounds. During the first segment, drivers would have used the hard compound, mediums during the second, and softs during the third. In addition, teams would have only had 11 sets of tyres for the race weekend rather than 13 as part of an initiative to help the sport become more environmentally friendly. [4]
Max Verstappen led the World Drivers' Championship with 119 points, 14 points ahead of his teammate Sergio Pérez in second, and 44 ahead of Fernando Alonso in third. Red Bull Racing, with 224 points, led the Constructors' Championship from Aston Martin and Mercedes, who were second and third with 102 and 96 points, respectively. [5]
As the race was cancelled, these standings would carry over to the Monaco Grand Prix.
Tyre supplier Pirelli had brought the C3, C4, and C5 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively) for teams to use at the event. [6]
Heading into the weekend, the Italian Protezione Civile issued a weather red alert for the Emilia-Romagna region, where the race would be held; the region had been affected by heavy rain, which led to floods and landslides. On 16 May 2023, all Formula One personnel were instructed to leave the paddock, citing precautionary steps after a rise in water level at the nearby Santerno river was reported. [7] [8] Due to the heavy rain observed throughout the week before the race and after several rumours the day before, the Italian ministry called for the race to be postponed. [9] [10] Parts of the Grand Prix venue, including the Formula 2 paddock, were later seen to be flooded after the announcement of the cancellation. [11]
Ultimately, the race would not go ahead as scheduled; an official statement from Formula One stated that the decision was made as it was not possible to hold the event while considering the safety of the fans, teams, and other personnel, and to lighten the load on local emergency services as they had already been pressured due to the storm damage. [12] [3] While the announcement did not rule out the possibility of holding the event later in the year, this is considered unlikely to occur due to a lack of logistically viable calendar slots. [13] [14] [3]
Formula One would donate €1 million to the Emilia-Romagna region's Agency for Territorial Safety and Civil Protection, [15] and Ferrari announced a further €1 million donation to the region's fundraising effort after the floods. [16]
The Imola Circuit, officially called the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, is a 4.909 km (3.050 mi) motor racing circuit. It is located in the town of Imola, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, 40 km (25 mi) east of Bologna. It is one of the few major international circuits to run in an anti-clockwise direction. Initially used for motorcycle racing, the first race at Imola was held in 1953.
Valtteri Viktor Bottas is a Finnish racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Alfa Romeo, having previously driven for Mercedes from 2017 to 2021 and Williams from 2013 to 2016. Bottas has scored 10 race wins and 67 podiums. He contributed to five constructors championship wins for Mercedes, and has been drivers' championship runner-up twice, in 2019 and 2020.
Esteban José Jean-Pierre Ocon-Khelfane is a French racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Alpine.
George William Russell is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. He previously raced for Williams from 2019 to 2021. He took his maiden Formula One victory at the 2022 São Paulo Grand Prix.
Charles Marc Hervé Perceval Leclerc is a Monégasque racing driver, currently racing in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari. He won the GP3 Series championship in 2016 and the FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2017.
The 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship was the motor racing championship for Formula One cars which was the 71st running of the Formula One World Championship. It marked the 70th anniversary of the first Formula One World Drivers' Championship. The championship was recognised by the governing body of international motorsport, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. Drivers and teams competed for the titles of World Drivers' Champion and World Constructors' Champion, respectively.
Yuki Tsunoda is a Japanese racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Scuderia AlphaTauri. Supported by Honda since 2016 through the Honda Formula Dream Project, he was the 2018 Japanese F4 champion and in 2019 also received backing from Red Bull. He finished third in the 2020 Formula 2 Championship and made his Formula One debut in 2021 for AlphaTauri.
The Ferrari SF1000 is a Formula One racing car designed and constructed by Scuderia Ferrari, which competed in the 2020 Formula One World Championship.
The 2022 FIA Formula One World Championship was a motor racing championship for Formula One cars, which was the 73rd running of the Formula One World Championship. It is recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the governing body of international motorsport, as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. The championship was contested over twenty-two Grands Prix, which were held around the world, and ended earlier than in recent years to avoid overlapping with the FIFA World Cup.
The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is a Formula One motor racing event held at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, often referred to as "Imola" after the town where it is located. The event takes the name "Emilia-Romagna" from the Italian region where the circuit is located. The venue has previously hosted the Italian Grand Prix in 1980, and the San Marino Grand Prix from 1981 to 2006.
The 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race which took place on 1 November 2020 at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy. It was the 28th Formula One race held at the Imola circuit, the first since 2006 and the first-ever running of a race there under the name of Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The race was the 13th round of the 2020 Formula One World Championship.
The 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race which took place on 18 April 2021 at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy. The race, held in wet conditions, was the second round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship, and the second Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The 2022 Miami Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race that was held on May 8, 2022, at the Miami International Autodrome in Miami Gardens, Florida. It was the first edition of the Miami Grand Prix and the fifth round of the 2022 Formula One World Championship.
The 2022 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 22 May 2022 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Montmeló, Spain. It was the 62nd edition of the Spanish Grand Prix and the sixth round of the 2022 Formula One World Championship.
The 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 24 April 2022 at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy. It was the first Grand Prix weekend of the 2022 season to utilize the Formula One sprint racing format.
The 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship is a motor racing championship for Formula One cars, which is the 74th running of the Formula One World Championship. It is recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the governing body of international motorsport, as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. The championship is contested over twenty-two Grands Prix held around the world. It began in March and will end in November.
The 2022 Imola FIA Formula 3 round was a motor racing event held on 23 and 24 April 2022 at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola, Italy. It is the second round of the 2022 FIA Formula 3 Championship, and is held in support of the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The 2023 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race that was held on 28 May 2023, at the Circuit de Monaco in the Principality of Monaco. The race, which was affected by rain during the middle stages, was won by polesitter Max Verstappen, ahead of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, the latter receiving his third podium in his Formula One career after the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix.
A series of floods were in and around the cities of Bologna, Cesena, Forlì, Faenza, Ravenna, and Rimini, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The first floods occurred between 2 and 3 May 2023, killing two people. More severe floods took place on 16–17 May 2023, killing at least 15 people and displacing 50,000 others.