THE F1 season is reaching a crescendo – and this week teams and drivers are back at one of racing’s most iconic circuits.
Imola plays host to the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, where Lewis Hamilton will look to tighten his grip on the Driver’s Championship.
But you may have noticed that the race schedule is over two days than the usual three.
Why is there no Friday practice at Imola?
The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc with the Formula One calendar and the past few weeks have been gruelling.
As a result, a number of tracks that wouldn’t usually have been on the schedule have been added to minimise travel.
One of these is Imola, which hasn’t seen F1 racing since 2006.
F1 Grand Prix weekends are usually held over three days, with two practice sessions on Friday morning and afternoon.
But at Imola this weekend, the race schedule will include NO racing on Friday and practice instead moves to Saturday morning, before qualifying in the afternoon.
The decision to do this is purely logistical – teams are burned out from the gruelling schedule and this seemed a perfect opportunity for bosses to trial a two-day race weekend.
After moving from Germany to Portugal, this triple-header race without a break has been seen as detrimental to the drivers ability to perform.
As such, the decision was taken to make the Emilia-Romagna GP a two-day event and reduce the strain on the racers.
If the calendar is expanded in the future – as expected – it could yet become the norm going forward.
What is the race schedule?
Saturday, October 31
- Practice – 9am to 10.30am
- Qualifying – 1pm to 2pm
Sunday, November 1
- Race – 12.10pm
