Formula One announces to make changes on the schedule for the upcoming Imola Grand Prix to avoid clashing with the royal funeral.
The Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip passed away on April 9 at the age of 99 and his British Royal funeral will be held at St George’s Chapel, Windsor on April 17 at 3PM EST.
F1 authorities changed the weekend schedule for the upcoming Imola Grand Prix at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari to pay respect to the Prince Philip, the Duke Of Edinburgh. (Photo by Matt Dunham – WPA Pool / Getty Images)
Therefore, the FIA and F1 authorities changed the schedule for Imola out of respect for the British royalty.
New Schedule for the Imola Grand Prix
The Imola Qualifiers will begin at 2PM CET, an hour earlier than the scheduled time on Saturday. Thus, it further affected the other events of the Grand Prix. Now FP3 on the Saturday morning will begin at 11AM CET to maintain the 120 minutes gap between Qualifying and FP3. Further, a minute of silence will be there ahead of Qualifying to pay respects to Prince Philip.
This weekend's schedule has been adjusted as a mark of respect for the funeral of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Saturday's sessions are 1 hour earlier; Friday moves back 30 minutes
There will be a minute's silence ahead of qualifying pic.twitter.com/Cy5ZnscDio
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 13, 2021
The changes also affected the Friday schedule, now the FP1 will begin half an hour earlier at 11AM CET on Friday, April 16. Therefore, to comply with the F1 regulation of 150 minutes gap between FP1 and FP2, so the second practice session will take place at 2:30PM CET. These changes in Friday schedule took place to maintain the 19 hour break between FP2 and FP3.
However, apart from the changes in the time schedule, the duration of the sessions and formats remains unchanged. The race day schedule is also unchanged and will begin at 3PM CET on Sunday, April 18 at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola.
