The F1 Emilia Romagna GP will have the sole DRS zone as FIA releases details on stewards and track limits. Also, Fernando Alonso is to have another test, while Williams re-confirm its 2021 line-up.
Though a reappearing circuit to the F1 calendar – one last seen on the schedule in 2006, Imola remains an unfamiliar circuit to the championship in its modern form. This is a fact that makes the FIA preview of the circuit’s intricacies all the more important.
It was this FIA preview that they detailed on the number of DRS zones on the 19-turn circuit, of which there will be only one. The activation point in the lap will be at its very start, with drivers permitted to open up their rear wings upon the crossing of the finish line. The detection point will be some 40 meters after turn 18.
Sector one of the lap will finish between turns six and seven, with S2 ending in a similar location, albeit between turns 13 and 14 in this case. Stewarding, meanwhile, will be conducted by Tim Mayer, Richard Norbury, Emanuele Pirro, and Iacopo Arcangeli.
Pirro, an accomplished driver in his own right, frequents the position, and will continue his service at the Emilia Romagna GP. Others that will be in service are also experienced stewards, part of a veteran line-up.
The race will be the 100th F1 has held inside Italy’s borders, and the 28th held at Imola, albeit multiple rounds at the track have historically been named after the city-state near to Italy, San Marino. Fans, though, won’t be allowed in due to COVID-19 measures.
AlphaTauri did a test at the track earlier in the summer, in preparation for the season’s start in early July, and though many of the current F1 drivers have experience on the circuit, and very few have raced the track in F1.
On the track limits side, the FIA Race Director Michael Masi’s race noted that Turn 9 and Turn 15 will be monitored for any offence – where the lap time will be deleted. Here’s the full information from the Australia:
21) Track Limits – 21.1 Turn 9 – Exit:
a) A lap time achieved during any practice session or the race by leaving the track on the exit of Turn 9, will result in that lap time being invalidated by the stewards.
21.2 Turn 15 – Exit:
a) A lap time achieved during any practice session or the race by leaving the track on the exit of Turn 15, will result in that lap time being invalidated by the stewards.
21.3 General – Turn 9 Exit, Turn 15 Exit:
a) A driver will be judged to have left the track if no part of the car remains in contact with the track.
b) Each time any car fails to negotiate Turn 9 Exit or Turn 15 Exit by using the track, teams will be informed via the official messaging system.
c) On the third occasion of a driver failing to negotiate Turn 1 Exit and/or Turn 15 Exit by using the track during the race, he will be shown a black and white flag, any further cutting will then be reported to the stewards. For the avoidance of doubt this means a total of three occasions combined not three at each corner.
d) In all cases detailed above, the driver must only re-join the track when it is safe to do so and without gaining a lasting advantage.
e) The above requirements will not automatically apply to any driver who is judged to have been forced off the track, each such case will be judged individually.
Habrá control de limites de pista con sensores en T9 y T15.
There will be track limits control by sensors on T9 and T15.#emiliaromagnaGP pic.twitter.com/YL3yuqbWB5
— Albert Fabrega (@AlbertFabrega) October 30, 2020
Other notes can be found here: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2020%20Emilia%20Romagna%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Race%20Directors’%20Event%20Notes%20.pdf
Aside the above, Renault confirmed a two-day test for Fernando Alonso in Bahrain for November 4-5 in the R.S.18, where they will run the same programme as they do with their academy drivers. Three of them are currently testing as well.
https://twitter.com/RenaultF1Team/status/1322085838700875776?s=20
Elsewhere, Williams finally confirmed that both George Russell and Nicholas Latifi will continue to drive for them in 2021 F1 season as Simon Roberts apologised for last weekend’s confusion amid speculations around Sergio Perez.
“I probably caused a bit of confusion last week, I’m sorry about that,” Roberts said. “We didn’t really want to comment on the driver position. But as George said, Claire Williams made the announcement earlier this year, nothing has changed. This is our driver line-up for this year and next year. We’re very happy with them, and we look forward to working with them in a continued way.”
At the same time, Russell, added: “It’s always nice to have stability, it’s never nice to hear any speculation that your job is potentially up for grabs. Nevertheless I was confident in what I could perform on track and ultimately I had to do the talking on track and I was confident nothing would change moving into 2021 even with all the speculation going around.
“Like I said I think a lot of the speculation was fed by other team members or teams surrounding drivers to create these issues over the last couple of weeks. So I’m definitely happy and pleased to continue on this journey.”
UPDATE: Post-Friday, the FIA released the COVID-19 details, where between October 23 and October 29, they undertook 4281 tests, which resulted in nine positive cases. This week’s numbers takes the total to 55 in all, so far, from over 50,000 tests undertaken.
Here’s news on George Russell’s physio getting COVID-19 symptoms
Here’s what Alpha Tauri’s Franz Tost said about big teams and their approach to new tracks