F1 Imola Grand Prix stay updates: Italian race cancelled after floods as Lewis Hamilton reacts

Remark by Kieran Jackson

They’ve been speaking about it for weeks. The truth is for the reason that season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix initially of March, Mercedes have pinpointed this weekend in Imola as a brand new starting not solely this season, however on this new section of ground-effect rules first introduced in final yr.

Toto Wolff has made no secret of F1’s return to conventional European circuits as marking a line within the sand for his workforce’s prospects in 2023, with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell ready eagerly within the cockpit to see how far they will scale back the hefty hole – 128 factors within the constructors’ standings – to Crimson Bull out in entrance.

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix has been cancelled, and sources near System One state that, amid the packed 2023 calendar, it’s unlikely the race shall be rescheduled this yr.

F1 employees had been informed to avoid the race circuit within the construct as much as the race, with the struggling space struggling to deal with the climate and rain forecast to proceed.

The encompassing area has been badly affected by torrential rain within the lead as much as the Grand Prix, which noticed the paddock on the circuit evacuated on Tuesday due to the chance of flooding.

System One boss Stefano Domenicali took the choice to name off the sixth spherical of the season in northern Italy following an emergency assembly with native authorities and race officers on Wednesday.

It’s the second F1 race to be cancelled on the eve of the occasion after the 2020 Australian Grand Prix was known as off when a McLaren mechanic contracted coronavirus.

“Hoping everybody in Emilia Romagna is ready to keep secure and look out for one another proper now,” mentioned Hamilton, who was deeply essential of F1’s choice to journey to Melbourne amid the outbreak of the worldwide pandemic three years in the past.

“Ideas are with these affected by this tragedy and the superb emergency providers engaged on the bottom. We had been getting ramped up for the weekend and excited to get going however that is undoubtedly the correct choice.

“We want we may very well be racing. However I do know all of us perceive that security comes first. I can’t wait to see you all on the subsequent race.”

Flood water exterior Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Wednesday, 17 Might, has prompted the cancellation of the F1 race this weekend.

Earlier within the day, groups and personnel making ready for the weekend’s race had been informed to evacuate the monitor because of the excessive climate circumstances.

Italian authorities have positioned the Emilia Romagna area beneath a crimson warning due heavy rain and rising ranges of the Santerno river.

In a press release, F1 mentioned: “The choice has been taken as a result of it’s not potential to securely maintain the occasion.”

Remark by Kieran Jackson

They’ve been speaking about it for weeks. The truth is for the reason that season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix initially of March, Mercedes have pinpointed this weekend in Imola as a brand new starting not solely this season, however on this new section of ground-effect rules first introduced in final yr.

Toto Wolff has made no secret of F1’s return to conventional European circuits as marking a line within the sand for his workforce’s prospects in 2023, with Lewis Hamilton and George Russell ready eagerly within the cockpit to see how far they will scale back the hefty hole – 128 factors within the constructors’ standings – to Crimson Bull out in entrance.

Some fairly eye-opening footage from Nyck de Vries, as he tried to make his method to Emilia Romagna…

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix has been cancelled, and sources near System One state that, amid the packed 2023 calendar, it’s unlikely the race shall be rescheduled this yr.

F1 employees had been informed to avoid the race circuit within the construct as much as the race, with the struggling space struggling to deal with the climate and rain forecast to proceed.

The encompassing area has been badly affected by torrential rain within the lead as much as the Grand Prix, which noticed the paddock on the circuit evacuated on Tuesday due to the chance of flooding.

Max Verstappen, who at present holds a 14 level lead over teammate Sergio Perez within the Drivers’ Championship standings, launched a press release in help of the cancellation, sending his ideas to these impacted by extreme flooding in Emilia -Romagna.

System One boss Stefano Domenicali took the choice to name off the sixth spherical of the season in northern Italy following an emergency assembly with native authorities and race officers on Wednesday.

It’s the second F1 race to be cancelled on the eve of the occasion after the 2020 Australian Grand Prix was known as off when a McLaren mechanic contracted coronavirus.

“Hoping everybody in Emilia Romagna is ready to keep secure and look out for one another proper now,” mentioned Hamilton, who was deeply essential of F1’s choice to journey to Melbourne amid the outbreak of the worldwide pandemic three years in the past.

“Ideas are with these affected by this tragedy and the superb emergency providers engaged on the bottom. We had been getting ramped up for the weekend and excited to get going however that is undoubtedly the correct choice.

“We want we may very well be racing. However I do know all of us perceive that security comes first. I can’t wait to see you all on the subsequent race.”