Imola canceled
The tragic toll of the flood in Emilia Romagna has reached 13 casualties, with over 10,000 displaced people in the entire region and billions of euros in damages. The decision of Formula 1 not to hold the Imola Grand Prix was made on Wednesday and was naturally taken without hesitation in such a tragic scenario that has forced the local population to deal with a very difficult situation.
The race scheduled for this weekend will most likely not be rescheduled, and therefore, the 2023 Formula 1 World Championship calendar will consist of 22 events.
The weekend at the circuit named in memory of Enzo and Dino Ferrari was eagerly anticipated by fans and professionals alike, as it essentially marked the start of the European GP season and therefore brought with it, as often happens, a significant load of updates to the cars.
It is no secret that Mercedes had planned to debut their version B of the W14 at Imola, with the introduction of the new aerodynamic package, which will now be postponed to Montmelò. But Scuderia Ferrari had also announced a substantial package of updates that was expected to give a new boost to the SF-23, or so they hoped.
Moreover, Imola had been circled on the calendar for testing the new qualifying format, which would have required drivers to use the Hard compound in Q1, the Medium in Q2, and the Soft in Q3. The decision would have led to a reduction in the number of tire sets brought to the track by Pirelli for each driver, from 13 to 11, thus significantly impacting environmental sustainability. Additionally, a new extreme wet tire had been prepared for the Emilia Romagna GP, which did not require pre-heating with tire warmers.
New qualifying format: Where will it be seen?
What happened in Italy clearly pushed the sporting aspect into the background, and therefore, the modifications to the qualifying format cannot be tested this weekend.
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As reported by Motorsport Magazin, Formula 1, together with Pirelli, has decided to evaluate the new qualifying format at the Hungarian Grand Prix, which is scheduled to take place on July 21-23.
But not only that, because the Italian tire manufacturer has asked the Federation and Liberty Media to identify a second event to replace Imola, in order to have an additional test of the new Saturday afternoon format.
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