Italian GP: F1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Cancelled Due To Flooding In Italy

The Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in northern Italy was cancelled on Wednesday due to deadly floods in the region. Formula One on Twitter said, "The decision has been taken not to proceed with the Grand Prix weekend in Imola."

In a statement Formula 1 said, "The decision has been taken because it is not possible to safely hold the event for our fans, the teams and our personnel and it is the right and responsible thing to do given the situation faced by the towns and cities in the region. It would not be right to put further pressure on the local authorities and emergency services at this difficult time."

The F1 community sent its thoughts to the people and communities affected by floods in the region and paid tribute to the work of emergency services who are doing everything that they can do to help the ones in need. F1 also added that it made the decision for safety reasons and to avoid any extra burden on the emergency services, after the infrastructure minister in Italy's government Matteo Salvini requested the race be cancelled to favour the flow of resources and help the hardest hit areas of the flooding.

As the Santerno River runs right next to the track, the Formula One personnel had earlier been told to stay away from the track after floods affected large parts of the Emilia-Romagna region.

If the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix is not rescheduled, which seems improbable due to the Formula 1's congested calendar, the total number of races in the season will remain at 22, matching last year's count instead of setting a new record of 23 for the most F1 races in a year. The Emilia-Romagna GP was meant to be the beginning of three weeks of back-to-back-to-back races. It was supposed to be followed by the Monaco Grand Prix which is on May 28 and the Spanish GP which will be conducted a week later.

The AlphaTauri team on Wednesday made a plea for donations to support the local community. The team is located in the neighboring town of Faenza and is the nearest team to the circuit. In a tweet, Scuderia AlphaTauri team wrote, "Scuderia AlphaTauri is very concerned about events unfolding over the past hours in Faenza and indeed in tne whole Emila-Romagna area, with flooding and heavy rain causing considerable damage. The team's factory is currently unaffected and everything is being done to ensure safety of our employyes and their families. Our sympathies go out to all those affected and we continue to monitor the situation, to see what can be done to help those in need as we wait for further developments."

It might be noted that this is the second race on the 2023 calendar to be cancelled. The Chinese Grand Prix was scheduled for April but was cancelled in December amid concerns about coronavirus pandemic related restrictions.