Imola scheduled with single practice session for two-day GP format

F1 drivers will get just a single 90-minute free practice session to reacclimatise themselves with the Imola circuit after the 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was confirmed with a condensed two-day format.

The shake-up of the format was teased in the official announcement confirming Imola would return to the F1 schedule after being listed as taking place on Oct 31 – Nov 1.

Now organisers have confirmed there will be no track action on Friday at all for the F1 drivers, who will instead have just a single 90-min free practice session taking place on Saturday morning before heading straight into qualifying in the afternoon.

The concentrated format represents a particular challenge as Imola hasn’t featured on the F1 calendar since 2006 and isn’t regularly used by teams, with the exception of the Alpha Tauri team located nearby in Faenza.

F1 is understood to have opted for a two-day format to allow teams to make the journey by road from the previous event in Portugal a weekend earlier.

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix will be the third F1 race to be held in Italy this year, following on from the Monza-Mugello double header in September.

It’s one of two venues returning to the shaken-up calendar for 2020 after the coronavirus forced several to be cancelled on the grounds of safety, while Mugello and Portimao will hold F1 races for the first time altogether.

The 2020 F1 calendar hasn’t been fully confirmed as yet with Abu Dhabi and Bahrain expected to be featured at the latter end of the schedule.