Formula 1 is back at Imola, in Italy, for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, a year after the 2023 race was canceled because of the extensive flooding in the region.
Over half of the annual rainfall deluged the area in just 36 hours in mid-May 2023, falling on land that had been hit by drought. A total of 23 rivers overflowed, landslides destroyed roads and bridges, and the area was paralyzed.
“The weather forecast was bad, but we were not foreseeing anything like this with the magnitude it had at the end of the day,” said Otello Valenti, the human resources and legal director of Visa Cash App RB F1 Team.
Imola is a classic, old-school circuit, a world away from some of Formula 1’s newer space-age venues. Imola’s narrow track sweeps through the Italian countryside, bisecting residential avenues dotted with red-brown houses from whose balconies fans have track views.
“Imola was recognized around the world because of the track and because of Formula 1,” said Stefano Domenicali, the chief executive of Formula 1, who is from Imola. “This is the reason why this event for Imola is special.”
Imola sits in an affluent region known for its education, cuisine and agriculture. It is also in the heart of Italy’s “Motor Valley,” home to the Formula 1 teams Ferrari and RB, the motorcycle company Ducati and the car manufacturers Lamborghini and Maserati.
“It’s not as probably as known as the high-tech area which it is,” said Peter Bayer, RB’s chief executive. “It’s a bit [like] the Silicon Valley of motorsport.”
Imola had its Formula 1 debut in 1980 when it hosted the Italian Grand Prix while the race’s regular host, Monza, was being renovated. Imola held the San Marino Grand Prix from 1981 to 2006.
Imola then dropped off the schedule, but it had a surprise return in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“They were able to accept us and be ready to host a race when unfortunately not a lot of other places were ready,” Domenicali said.
Formula 1 has held the Emilia-Romagna there ever since.
“Imola is special because I was born there, I grew up there, I have great memories there of my youth, my studies, my passion for motorsport,” Domenicali said. “It’s a link to the past and important for me. My family still lives there. I see my sister, nephews, my parents. And it’s where I sleep, so it’s beautiful as I don’t have to go to a hotel.”
Imola was spared the worst of the flooding, though a paddock went underwater after the adjacent Santerno river overflowed. Many Formula 1 personnel already at the track were sent home on Tuesday of race week, and the race was canceled on Wednesday, May 17.
“When I took the decision to cancel the race, it was not easy, but the right one,” Domenicali said. “The situation was too catastrophic to think all the services needed to host a Grand Prix were dedicated to us when the people really needed their support.”
Fifteen people were killed during the flooding and thousands were displaced. Formula 1 helped with financial assistance, while food and drink intended for the race was sent to the community.
RB’s factory, in the town of Faenza near Imola, invited some of its workers and their families to shelter there.
“We dedicated an area in the factory with temporary beds and we hosted up to 20 colleagues for a few nights,” Valenti said. “We had everything that was needed for them to have a place to stay and to sleep for them and their relatives.”
RB’s owner, Red Bull, sent a truck of clothing to Faenza from its AlphaTauri fashion arm. One of RB’s drivers, Yuki Tsunoda, a resident of the city, helped with the cleanup while donations poured in to assist with the recovery.
“Probably due to the attitude of the people in this area, most of the people have rolled up their sleeves and started to try to recover,” Valenti said. “A lot of people came to Faenza in the following weeks to help clean the town, bringing support, bringing clothes, bringing money, bringing tools to help the local communities and the local area to recover.”
It was nonetheless a lengthy cleanup operation. Bayer joined the team in June 2023 and was invited to lunch in Faenza by Franz Tost, AlphaTauri’s team principal at the time.
“The first time I came to Faenza, Franz took me downtown, and a month later the city was still full of mud and dirt,” Bayer said. “Even half a year later, I went to the Hotel Vittoria in the city center. They still had not cleaned all the furniture. Water goes everywhere, so the impact was huge.”
Faenza’s proximity to Imola makes the return all the more poignant for RB.
“We buy a whole grandstand and invite the team members with families to come and see the event,” Bayer said. “It will be a very emotional moment in Imola to see everyone coming together.”
Italy still has its annual Grand Prix, at Monza, just north of Milan, but Imola remains a boon to Emilia-Romagna.
“It’s very important for our families, and it’s very important for the area, for the sport, for the passion and also for economic reasons,” Valenti said. “I hope it will be a big celebration. I hope the weather will be good this year. It can also be a way to say thank you to everyone who has been putting a lot of effort and a lot of energy to help the people who have been affected last year. I think it’s also for the morale of the people, the morale of the area, and somehow a sort of ‘thank you’ for everyone who has been badly hit.”
The local boy turned Formula 1 chief is also enthusiastic for the weekend.
“It is at least incredible that we are going back,” Domenicali said. “There is a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of expectations. I’m looking forward to being there.”