A flood and landslide warning has been issued for the Imola area. According to F1 journalist Adam Cooper, the situation of the Imola F1 race will be discussed on Wednesday.
The Imola F1 race this weekend is threatened by heavy rain. Teams and F1 series staff were instructed to leave the Imola track pit on Tuesday evening, reports, for example, Autosport (you switch to another service).
Even on Wednesday, F1 employees are not allowed to go to the track area. Even before the order to leave, the teams had started building their own facilities, but that work was left unfinished.
Next to the Imola track is the Santerno river, which is feared to flood violently with heavy rains. The Instagram account of Germany’s Sky Sport has published pictures from Tuesday in Imola, showing the beginning of the flooding of the Santerno river.
A flood and landslide warning has been issued for Tuesday and Wednesday in the Imola area.
Well-known F1 journalist Adam Cooper said on Wednesday morning on Twitter (you’re moving to another service)that there will be a lot of discussions about the situation of the F1 race on Wednesday morning.
– The problem is that any cancellation decision must be made quickly, i.e. in the morning. As always in such situations, there is an argument about who pays… There is also always the possibility that the race will be postponed if a new time is found for it, Cooper wrote.
Cooper reminded that the big picture is not just about canceling the race or driving. In Imola, roads and bridges are closed. Above all, the rescue service, for example, should be guaranteed passage in Imola even in terms of normal life.
– A major event is an additional headache, Cooper states.
Spanish F1 reporter Albert Fabrega has published pictures from the Imola pit on Wednesday morning on his Twitter account. According to Fabrega, the F1 pit is fine, but the areas of the smaller formulas have been properly flooded. According to Fabrega, additional information about the situation in Imola will be provided at 14:00 local time, i.e. at 15:00 Finnish time.
According to the news agency AP, some residents of the Imola area have been asked to move to the upper floors of their homes and to turn off the gas and electricity.
President of the Italian Motor Sports Association Angelo Sticchi Damiani hoped on Tuesday that the flood situation would be under control by Thursday.
– It is important that by Thursday the matter is under control and the river recedes. For now, we are interested in the problems this situation will have for the local population. We’ll see, but hopefully the situation will improve, Sticchi Damiani told the La Presse news agency.