2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

## Lap Leader

The **2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix** was a Formula 1.5 motor race which took place on 18 April 2021 at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy. The race, held in wet conditions, was the second round of the 2021 Formula 1.5 World Championship.

Charles Leclerc, took pole position and lead most the race before the race was temporarily stopped halfway through after a high-speed crash involving George Russell and F1.0 driver Valtteri Bottas. After the restart Norris overtook Leclerc, and went on to win the race.

## Background

The race was the second round of the 2021 Formula 1.5 World Championship, and the second running of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. It was the twenty-ninth time Imola hosted a Formula 1.5 race, having previously hosted 27 editions of the San Marino Grand Prix and the 1980 Italian Grand Prix. Unlike the 2020 edition (which took place over two days), this event utilised the traditional three-day format.

### **Entry List**

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.

### **Tyres**

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C2, C3 and C4 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium and soft respectively) for teams to use at the event.

### **Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic**

In March 2021, organisers announced that the race would be held behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.

### **Track changes**

The DRS zone located on the main straight would be longer than the previous edition of the race, to aid overtaking. The detection point was moved from after turn 18 to before turn 17.

### **Championship permutations**

Lando Norris entered the weekend as both the defending race winner and the championship leader, with a seven-point lead over Charles Leclerc of Ferrari. Mclaren lead the constructors championship over Ferrari by 10 points. Some teams had new parts on their cars for the first European race of the year, with Ferrari and Williams using their versions of the "z-shaped" floors.

## Practice

There were three practice sessions, all an hour in length. The first practice session started at 11:00 local time (UTC+02:00) on Friday 16 April. The second practice session started at 14:30 local time on the same afternoon and the final practice session started at 11:00 on Saturday.

The first practice session ended with Leclerc fastest ahead of Gasly and Sainz. The session was red flagged twice, the first time following a collision between F1's Sergio Pérez and Alpine's Esteban Ocon at turns five and six, and a second time when Nikita Mazepin crashed at turn 18. The second practice session ended with Gasly fastest ahead of Sainz and Charles Leclerc, driving for Ferrari. The session was stopped once when Charles Leclerc crashed his Ferrari, at the end of the session, bringing out the red flag. The final practice session ended with Norris fastest ahead of Charles Leclerc and Gasly.

## Qualifying

The time of the qualifying session was moved to avoid a clash with the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who died on 9 April; as a result the start times for the practice sessions were also adjusted. Before the start of qualifying, at 14:00 local time (UTC+02:00), there was a minute's silence to mark the Prince's death. The first part of qualifying (Q1) was red-flagged after Yuki Tsunoda spun and crashed heavily at the Variente Alta chicane. As only five drivers had set a time before Tsunoda's crash, the track was noticeably congested near the end of the session; In addition to Tsunoda, the eliminated drivers included both the Alfa Romeos of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi, and both the Haas cars of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin. Giovinazzi later issued a public criticism of Mazepin, who had overtaken the Italian driver on his last lap, forcing its abandonment. The second part of qualifying (Q2) was less eventful, but saw the surprise elimination of the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr. Behind the Spaniard was George Russell, Sebastian Vettel, Russell's teammate Nicholas Latifi, and Fernando Alonso.

Charles Leclec took his 7th F1.5 pole position in the final part of qualifying, just ahead of the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly, who took pole at the same grand prix in 2020. Ricciardo qualified third ahead of teammate Norris in fourth, locking out the 2nd row for the second consecutive race. Lando Norris would have started from pole but his lap time was invalidated for exceeding track limits. Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll were the two other drivers to make Q3. Stroll did not set a lap time in the final part of qualifying.

## Race

The race started at 15:00 local time (UTC+02:00) and was held over 63 laps. Heavy rain had fallen before the race, and on his way to the grid, Fernando Alonso lost control and hit the wall at Tosa; he managed to drive to the grid, where the Alpine mechanics were able to fix the damage. Sebastian Vettel had to start from the pitlane after his brakes overheated before the race, and was given a ten-second penalty when the team failed to fit his car's tyres before the five-minute deadline. Charles Leclerc was able to recover from a spin on the formation lap and start the race.

At the race start, Charles Leclerc held his lead, however further back in the pack on the run up to the Variente Alta chicane, Nikita Mazepin was unable to avoid the Williams of Nicholas Latifi, who had run wide at the Acque Minerali right-hander; Mazepin's Haas emerged undamaged, but Latifi was spun into the wall, ending his race. During the resulting safety car, Mick Schumacher spun near the pit exit and lost his front wing. With the rain gradually ceasing, Vettel was the first driver to change onto slick tyres, which he did on lap 22.

On lap 31 Russell was involved in a 320 kilometres per hour (200 mph) crash with F1 driver Valtteri Bottas, at the entrance to the fast Tamburello chicane; the race was red-flagged because debris had scattered across the track. Both drivers were noticeably enraged following the incident - Russell marched over to the remains of Bottas' Mercedes to confront him, while Bottas replied to a light slap on his crash helmet from Russell by giving him the middle finger. Because the stewards classified the incident as a racing incident, neither driver was penalised.

On the race restart, Lando Norris overtook the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc for the lead of the race, whilst Yuki Tsunoda spun at Villeneuve and Tamburello respectively, dropping him down to last of the running cars. Norris clamied the fastest lap on the last lap of the race.

### **Post Race**

Lance Stroll was later given a five-second time penalty for cutting the Tamburello chicane, dropping him from fith to sixth-position. Kimi Räikkönen was given a thirty-second penalty after he breached the restart rules, dropping him from seventh place to tenth. Räikkönen's team appealed the penalty, it was upheld following a review.

## Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

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Constructors' Championship standings

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## External Links

1. ↑ Sebastian Vettel qualified 9th, but he started the race from the pit lane due to brakes issue occurred during the formation lap. His place on the grid was left vacant
2. ↑  Nicholas Latifi and Fernando Alonso set identical lap in Q2. Latifi was classified ahead of Alonso as he set his lap earlier
3. ↑  Nicholas Latifi and Fernando Alonso set identical lap in Q2. Latifi was classified ahead of Alonso as he set his lap earlier
4. ↑  Yuki Tsunoda failed to set a time during qualifying and was permitted to race at the stewards' discretion. He also received a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change and was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota for power unit components. These two penalties were not in force as he started the race from the last position.
5. ↑ Includes one point for fastest lap.
6. ↑  Lance Stroll finished 5th on the track, but received a post-race five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage while passing Pierre Gasly.
7. ↑  Yuki Tsunoda received a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits.
8. ↑  Kimi Räikkönen finished 7th on the track, but received a post-race 30-second time penalty for a rolling start infringement
9. ↑  Sebastian Vettel was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.