Ravenna Mayor Michele de Pascale told Italy’s RAI public broadcaster, “It’s probably been the worst night in the history of Romagna.” Emilia-Romagna region is facing horrendous floods as 14 rivers broke their banks and flooded almost 23 towns and as reported by BBC. In light of this news, yesterday the authorities issued an official statement declaring the cancellation of the F1 race. Our thoughts are with the Italian region and those affected, and many drivers came out to support the decision of the authorities. Mercedes duo George Russell and Lewis Hamilton sent out a supportive video as well.
Mercedes was looking forward to racing in Imola ever since they realized that they had botched this year’s construction as well. While this realization came to the Silver Arrows as early as the Bahrain Testing but rolling out a significant upgrade package was bound to take time. Mercedes hoped to bring the upgrades to Imola. However, socially responsible Lewis Hamilton and George Russell came out to share their thoughts with the people of Emilia-Romagna.
In the video posted by the official Twitter account of Mercedes, George said, “It is not good to see what has going on there, so just wishing everybody the best and obviously a shame we are not racing but ultimately the right decision has been made. “
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Lewis said, “Yeah absolutely, we are here at the factory, we were getting all ramped up for the weekend, naturally very exciting to get going again. But I think this is the right decision. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone there on the ground. Wishing all the emergency services all the very best. They are in full force. We wish we could be racing, but this is definitely the right decision. So to fans, we just want to send you our love and support. We keep our fingers crossed for everyone to stay safe and hopefully, we get to see everyone in Monaco.” Seeing the duo’s safety-first approach, fans have hailed them.
Fans appreciated the gesture by Lewis Hamilton and George Russell
The Formula 1 world united in sending out wishes and support to the people of Imola. Red alert warnings were issued for the region where there have been casualties due to the bad weather. Formula 1 would just have been an added burden for authorities trying their best to control the situation. And hence, the cancellation and the support have been hailed by fans.
grazie Lewis and George🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
— Pasquale Cignarella (@PasqualeCi86765) May 17, 2023
This is really nice. Thank you team 💜 hope everyone in the region are safe, get help and recover soon. And I hope the team members who are already there make it home safe.
— Saroma (@Romy_Skye) May 17, 2023
Was really looking forward to the upgrades but nothing is more important than safety. Just keep at it a s come back strong.
— Kevin Orango (@kevorango) May 17, 2023
Well said from both drivers. As f1 fans I think we’re all annoyed that we will not be racing but we all wish the best for those unfortunate in emilia Romagna right now 💜
— Eujhn (@Eujhn2) May 17, 2023
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Lewis and George, thanks for the nice message. We too were very much looking forward to this weekend's race, but we will have to wait until next weekend. First and foremost, we pray that the Emilia-Romagna region is safe.
— Keep going,Yusuke #LH44 (@KeepGoingYusuke) May 17, 2023
The fans couldn’t stop appreciating the heartfelt messages of Hamilton and Russell and declared their wish to see them in Monaco with the much-awaited upgrades.
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