The Emilia-Romagna floods have affected millions of people in the northern Italian region, including some from the two Formula 1 teams based in the region.
While F1 has been caught up in the storms, AlphaTauri and Ferrari are particularly connected to the tragedy, with both teams based in the inundated region.
On Thursday Ferrari announced that it would donate €1 million to the recovery effort.
The team said the money would go towards “projects for environmental recovery and the management of hydrogeological instability” in the region.
“In times of difficulty Ferrari has always stood by its community,” Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna said. ”We wanted to provide a concrete and immediate response to the most urgent needs of the population of Emilia-Romagna, which has been tried by a serious environmental disaster.
“With the co-ordination of the local authorities, to whom our heartfelt thanks go for their tireless work, this aid will bring comfort and a tangible sign of the solidarity of the entire Ferrari family.“
But while Ferrari has been touched by the disaster, AlphaTauri has been directly and severely affected, with parts of its Faenza home town submerged by more than a metre on Tuesday, when the rain was at its heaviest.
It’s elicited a necessarily different response from the team — and from its drivers.
TSUNODA PITCHES IN FOR HUGE FAENZA CLEAN-UP
Yuki Tsunoda has swapped his steering wheel for a shovel to help clean up his adopted home town of Faenza after this week’s flood.
Faenza was one of the worst hit towns in Emilia-Romagna during the week’s deadly storms, which forced the cancellation of this weekend’s grand prix in Imola.
Photos from earlier in the week showed some Faenza streets had been inundated up to the roofs of parked cars, causing significant damage to street infrastructure and houses.
Several basements in the area a completely full of water.
Access in and out of town has also been hampered by road closures. One Twitter video from Wednesday showed the highway between Faenza and Imola blocked by fast-moving water.
Transport disruptions have put extra emphasis on local volunteers to restore their towns, and Tsunoda has been photographed helping to clean the layer of mud and silt off city streets.
“After a horrible night the town is heavily impacted,” Tsunoda wrote on social media. “Dust, mud and the smell of gasoline everywhere.
“Currently people are struggling to find food and especially places to stay after many have been evacuated from their own homes.“
Tsunoda moved to Faenza in 2021 to be closer to the team and has spoken about feeling more at home in the Emilia-Romagna town than in England’s Milton Keynes, where he had been previously based.
The Japanese drive has also credited the move with his improving form after a troubled and crash-prone debut season.
DE VRIES SEEKS HELP FROM FORMER TEAM AFTER GETTING STUCK IN RISING WATERS
Nyck de Vries has revealed he got trapped on the road to Faenza and had to take shelter in an overbooked hotel on Tuesday night as storms lashed the Emilia-Romagna region.
De Vries wrote on Instagram that he was driving late Tuesday night trying to make it back to the AlphaTauri factory when the roads became unpassable, forcing him back to a small town for shelter as the storms thundered down on the area.
“Tuesday evening 11:30pm, on my way to Faenza ahead of a marketing day at the [AlphaTauri] factory on Wednesday,” he wrote. “It’s raining intense, Faenza is already flooded and I am unable to get to my hotel. Returning to the highway is no option either.
“Stuck in a little village with one fully booked hotel. Fortunately McLaren got stranded there earlier and their front jack Frazer was kind enough to give me his room.
“The following morning the hotel lobby turned into an emergency shelter for people who were forced to escape their homes during the night.”
De Vries was a McLaren young driver for almost a decade between 2010 and 2019, when he won the Formula 2 championship.
Along with several photos of devastated local roads, the Dutchman wrote the only way for him to reach home was to go via Florence, which is more than 100 kilometres southwest of Faenza in hilly and rural terrain.
“Post F1 announcement, I only saw one potential option to get home, which was driving via Firenze,” he wrote. “After an adventurous drive through the mountains, thanks to the help from local people and authorities in different villages, I finally got home safely.
“Thank you to every single person who has been kind enough to help me. It was truly heartwarming to see so many look out for each other.
“My thoughts are with those who continue to be affected by this tragedy. I’ll be back soon in Faenza to meet my team and the people from the region!”
IMOLA TO OFFER REFUNDS THANKS TO EARLY CANCELLATION
Ticketholders for the cancelled Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix will be entitled to refunds after the race was called off on Wednesday.
It’s believed to be only the third time in Formula 1 history that a grand prix has been called off pre-emptively with the teams already in attendance. The previous two were the 1985 Belgian Grand Prix, which was postponed due to a new track surface disintegrating, and the 2020 Australian Grand Prix, which was abandoned due to the outbreak of the pandemic.
But some have drawn parallels between Imola and the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, which was also heavily affected by severe rain.
That race at Spa-Francorchamps ranks among the sport’s most controversial because race control declared a result after three laps behind the safety car, with conditions too wet to allow for green-flag racing.
The completion of three laps was the minimum required to classify the race as having been completed, and half-points were awarded to the drivers.
The decision rankled fans not only because they felt short-changed by the so-called result but because it meant Formula 1 didn’t have to call the race off, therefore ensuring it was paid the race hosting fee.
That then knocked on to the Belgian promoter being unable to offer refunds to ticketholders without incurring a debilitating loss.
However, the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix was reportedly cancelled on grounds of force majeure, which means race organisers won’t be liable for the estimated $30 million sanctioning fee.
The Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari subsequently took to social media to confirm fans would be either refunded or offered tickets to next year’s race.
“All buyers who have purchased tickets through the sales network and the ticketone.it purchasing platform are informed that the opportunity to convert the tickets purchased with tickets for the 2024 event or alternatively the economic reimbursement,” the circuit said.
“Given the ongoing emergency in the region, the methods and timing of the refund will be announced with a subsequent communication that will be sent by email in the next few days by ACI Sport, a company of the Automobile Club of Italy, through the provider official ticket office Ticketone.it.”
