The FIA and F1 have now confirmed that due to Prince Philip’s funeral, which will be taking place this Saturday afternoon, there are changes to the Emilia Romagna GP, taking place at Imola.
Qualifying, and thus the consecutive Practice Sessions, will be moved to avoid clashes with the funeral.
As such, this is now the new timetable for this weekend:
FRIDAY
Free Practice 1 – 09:00-10:00UTC (10:00-11:00BST, 11:00-12:00CET)
Free Practice 2 – 12:30-13:30UTC (13:30-14:30BST, 14:30-15:30CET)
SATURDAY
Free Practice 3 – 09:00-10:00UTC (10:00-11:00BST, 11:00-12:00CET)
Qualifying – 12:00-13:00 (13:00-14:00BST, 14:00-15:00CET)
RACE SUNDAY
Race – 13:00-15:00UTC (14:00-16:00BST, 15:00-17:00CET)
Previously, Qualifying was going to clash with the funeral. To accommodate it, Qualifying was moved up by 1 hour. Due to this change, Practice 3 had to be moved up also, due to the regulations stating that there must be at least 120 minutes between FP3 and Qualifying.
The regulations also state that FP3 must be no less than 19 hours after FP2, so both of those sessions also had to be moved appropriately.
Furthermore, a minute of silence will be held ahead of Qualifying in respect of Prince Philip, and allowing people to pay their respects.
Imola made a return this season, after last year’s struggles with COVID. While no fans are being admitted, this weekend should certainly be an exciting one; can Red Bull pull off a win?
