Good morning. I get these images from Imola. F1 paddock and pits are ok. The lower areas like F2 are with a lot of water. Today the staff has been forbidden to go to the circuit until they are warned.
Interesting Duchessa says schedule changes will be expected according to teams. Perhaps not necessarily cancellation, but rather moving practice to Saturday & quali to Sunday morning perhaps? So there is time to get the paddock ready on FridayImola, the circuit is currently closed until further notice and there will be an important update this afternoon (14.00 according to Fabrega).
Managing the arrival of thousands of people in a red zone seems unlikely, plus organizing an event by taking away large resources on the ground.
Hearing from some teams, everything suggests that we can expect appropriate schedule changes. We will know in the afternoon (14.00)
This is OK only if Libery refund the tickets and not the track owners.Just_a_fan wrote: ↑17 May 2023, 10:42They could hold a "closed doors" race with no spectators - that helps the local area by not having tens of thousands of people descend on a disaster zone. But it would be a case of the FIA being tone-deaf and not reading the room as usual. There are very much more important things going on in northern Italy at the moment and a motor race is not at all important.
.- The main highway (A14), the main one of the region, is closed. Traffic chaos.
Railways also blocked.
- Imola not reachable from Bologna today, with even circuit staff unable to get there.
Bologna itself flooded in the centre.
- Situation in Faenza is terrible (where AT are based and apparently Red Bull have some staff staying) -
with 1m floods in the centre, and 4m in the outskirts.
- As a result, the A14 motorway between Imola and Faenza is of course closed, train traffic is stopped,
there is an obligation not to leave the house and not to travel unless absolutely necessary.
- Paddock 2 flooded at Imola, access to track still closed for safety reasons.
- Fanzone definitely scrapped, and a few grandstands closed already.
Who refunds if it is cancelled entirely?bluechris wrote: ↑17 May 2023, 12:05This is OK only if Libery refund the tickets and not the track owners.Just_a_fan wrote: ↑17 May 2023, 10:42They could hold a "closed doors" race with no spectators - that helps the local area by not having tens of thousands of people descend on a disaster zone. But it would be a case of the FIA being tone-deaf and not reading the room as usual. There are very much more important things going on in northern Italy at the moment and a motor race is not at all important.
Not likely possible given you'd still need road ambulances and air ambulances in case of a massive accident that requires hospitalisation of an injured driver or marshall. Without that I doubt the race would be covered by the Insurance. Even if the flood subsides the roads will likely be damaged and if the weather is bad during the race that might well ground helicopters. The best thing to do is to postpone the race and try to find a new date for the race to happen. Which will be tough given the tight schedule and logistics of F1 and the time needed by the region to recover from the floods.Just_a_fan wrote: ↑17 May 2023, 10:42They could hold a "closed doors" race with no spectators - that helps the local area by not having tens of thousands of people descend on a disaster zone. But it would be a case of the FIA being tone-deaf and not reading the room as usual. There are very much more important things going on in northern Italy at the moment and a motor race is not at all important.
Agreed entirely.taperoo2k wrote: ↑17 May 2023, 12:32Not likely possible given you'd still need road ambulances and air ambulances in case of a massive accident that requires hospitalisation of an injured driver or marshall. Without that I doubt the race would be covered by the Insurance. Even if the flood subsides the roads will likely be damaged and if the weather is bad during the race that might well ground helicopters. The best thing to do is to postpone the race and try to find a new date for the race to happen. Which will be tough given the tight schedule and logistics of F1 and the time needed by the region to recover from the floods.Just_a_fan wrote: ↑17 May 2023, 10:42They could hold a "closed doors" race with no spectators - that helps the local area by not having tens of thousands of people descend on a disaster zone. But it would be a case of the FIA being tone-deaf and not reading the room as usual. There are very much more important things going on in northern Italy at the moment and a motor race is not at all important.
In the end I expect the decision will likely be taken out of the FIA hands by the Italian Government or the drivers will collectively decide not to race if safety cannot be guaranteed. As much as I love F1 it should always come last when a natural disaster hits.
