When could the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix be rescheduled for?

Harry Smith
Wednesday 17 May 2023 14:43 - Updated: 17:42

F1 was forced to make the difficult decision to postpone the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Wednesday afternoon following heavy flooding in the region.

The Emilia Romagna region was placed into a red weather warning by authorities earlier in the week and the expected weather has now hit the region with the F1 paddock submerged along with the local towns.

With the local authorities keen not to miss out on the revenue the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix would bring to the region, it is likely that F1 will try to reorganise the race for some point later in the season.

However, with space on the calendar hard to come by, it is difficult to see where the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix will slot into the calendar.

These are the most likely outcomes...

READ MORE: Imola F1 cancellation: Death toll rising, rivers breaking banks and hospital flooded in Italy as RED ALERT weather continues

June and July remains difficult

Given the logistics involved in transporting the cars, equipment and personnel across the globe for F1 Grands Prix, it is unlikely that the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix can be reorganised after the European leg of the season comes to a close

With F1 travelling out to Singapore for the Grand Prix on September 17th, the prior weekend of September 8th-10th will be the final logistically possible slot for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

With May already packed to the rafters, June will offer the first opportunity to reschedule the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, with both the 9th-11th and 23rd-25th weekends currently open.

The issue here, however, is that utilising either of those weekends would ensure that teams would have to commit to four consecutive race weekends in action, which given the short notice is unlikely to be a popular move.

This problem is exacerbated when you look at July. With only the 14th-16th weekend available, this would result in five consecutive race weekends on the road.

Summer break sacrifice

F1's crammed 2023 calendar means that this year's summer break will last just three weeks at the start of August.

The summer break is crucial for allowing team personnel time off and for development purposes, so while splitting the break with the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix would make life easy for F1, it is unlikely to gain support from the teams.

The only alternative for F1 would be to pack the Grand Prix in after the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on the weekend of September 8th-10th.

This would also lead to a run of five consecutive race weekends and potentially compromise the logistics of getting to Singapore in time, although, with its close proximity to the Italian Grand Prix, this could be manageable.

The cancellation conundrum

Speaking on Sky Sports News, F1 correspondent Craig Slater explained: "Almost impossible that it will be [rescheduled]. That's the guidance that I've been given.

"There's no way it could have, for example, been held over until Monday of next week, we've got Monaco to follow on directly from this."

Slater then ruled out the chance of fitting the race in after August.

"The calendar, it's so congested that you would have to eat into Formula 1's August summer break and there's no appetite to do that.

"If you were to try and put it back in the autumn, you could be creating a situation where you might have four or five races in succession.

"So as I understand it, that really isn't on the cards at all."

READ MORE: Emilia Romagna Grand Prix CANCELLED after Imola weather chaos