F1 adjusts schedule for Imola to respect Prince Philip’s funeral

Formula 1 has announced it has adjusted the session start times for this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix out of respect to the funeral service of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh that will take place on Saturday.

Last Friday, The Duke of Edinburgh died aged 99, and his funeral service is set to take place this Saturday at 1500 UK time.

To avoid a clash with the service, qualifying will now take place an hour earlier than originally scheduled - at 1300 UK time / 1400 local time, while the start times for FP2 and FP3 have also been changed to be in line with the FIA regulations.

Friday’s practice sessions will now start at 1000 UK time and 1330 UK time respectively and final practice has been moved to 1100 UK time on the Saturday. 

There will also be a minute’s silence prior to the start of qualifying.

The race will start at 1400 UK time / 1500 local time as originally scheduled.

A statement from F1 read: “Formula 1 and the FIA are today setting out changes to the Saturday schedule for the Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio Del Made in Italy e Dell’Emila Romagna 2021 out of respect to the funeral service of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh that will take place on Saturday 17th April 2021.

“As a mark of respect for the Royal funeral, Qualifying will be moved to avoid a clash with the service. 

“This means Qualifying will take place between 14:00–15:00 CET. As a result FP3 will move to 11:00–12:00 CET in order to comply with the regulations that state Qualifying must be 120 minutes after FP3. On Friday FP2 will move to 14:30-15:30 CET and FP1 will move to 11:00-12:00 CET due to the rules requiring those sessions to be separated by at least two and a half hours and FP3 needing to start no less than 19 hours after the end of FP2.

“There will be a minute of silence ahead of Qualifying as an opportunity for people to show their respects.”