Will the Canadian GP go ahead?
F1 is a global sport. However, with the escalation of environmental issues like wildfires threatening the Canadian GP, and the recent cancellation of the Emilia Romagna GP, the intersection of the sport with environmental concerns is becoming increasingly significant.
The cancellation of Imola:
As of recent, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was cancelled this year after extreme flooding in the area.
Crews setting up for the Imola GP where asked to leave the circuit after a concerning raise of water in the Santerno river (which is right next to the Track).
The GP was later cancelled after the Deputy Prime minister of Italy called for the race to be stopped due to concerns over safety for all those attending the Grand Prix.
Even driver Yuki Tsunoda stayed behind to help those in need during the floods. According to Italian media, the driver helped clean the streets by a hotel in Faenza.
Although this may seem like a small gesture his openess about the urgency of the floods has helped bring awareness.
Tsunoda's Plea to help those in Italy:
After a horrible night the town is heavily impacted: dust, mud, and the smell of gasoline everywhere. Currently people are struggling to find food and especially places to stay,after many have been evacuated from their own homes. Please, anything you can do to help is appreciated pic.twitter.com/NQw72LeCLy
— 角田裕毅/Yuki Tsunoda (@yukitsunoda07) May 17, 2023
Charles Leclerc also auctioned off his worn race helmet, boots, race suit and gloves from the Monaco GP to raise money for those affected by the floods.
All of these items sold for a total of an amazing €429,600 !
This terrible event was suprisingly not the last environmental discussion the F1 community would have…
Will the Canadian GP have the same destiny?
With the Canadian Grand Prix due on the 18th June, most say the GP will be another cancelled on the calendar. But why is a cancellation looming?
Canada has been faced with more than 400 wildfires (Over 6.7 million acres destroyed as of late).
These fires have left an overbearing smog across Montreal, even leading to residents in the area to wear masks over poor air quality and health hazards.
However, F1 officials have confirmed that the event will still go ahead.
An F1 spokesperson stated, “The event is not a risk. Risks remain low, and Montreals air quality is assessed as good”.
It seems unlikely that this event will be cancelled (unless there’s more fires in the area) as Formula 1 will not want to lose more money from having to refund those who where supposed to attend the Grand Prix at Imola.
As much as it's a hard thing to say, Formula one is fundamentally a business, so money will ususally come first.
F1’s plans for a better future:
With a second race on the brink of being cancelled due to another environmental issue, it brings back the continuous discussions as to whether F1 are doing their bit to help Global warming.
F1 have started putting plans in place to right their wrongs with the launch of “Sustainability Strategy”.
By 2030, F1 plans to accelerate technologies to decarbonise their cars. But not only will the cars be more sustainable but also 100% renewably powered offices, facilities and factories.
DHL are also stepping up with helping F1 be more sustainable.
DHL are Formula Ones global partner who help deliver 2,000 metric tons of race cars, fuel and equipment to F1 race tracks across the globe.
They plan to have zero emissions by 2050 and they have begun to do this by using bio fuel in their trucks which reduces emissions by 60%.
But is it too much too late? With more races being added to the calendar seemly every year, F1’s plans to be more “sustainable” is a bit hypocritical.
Especially when these races jump from one side of the world to another, more fuel is being used and rather than having the races in order of location we seem to be jumping to opposite sides of the globe every week.
If F1 want to really obtain the sustainable seal of approval we should have a race calendar that has its races in order of closest location.
Drivers and teams taking a stance:
We’ve seen drivers have their own concerns about these issues, such as recently retired F1 Champion Sebastian Vettel.
During the Miami GP last year, Sebastian made his message clear by wearing a t-shirt saying, “Miami 2060 - 1st Grand Prix underwater - Act now or swim later”.
A simple message but one that could become reality if we don’t implement change.
Even some teams have put a huge focus into creating a more greener way of racing. Mercedes in 2018 calculated that they used 20,000 tonnes of carbon emissions, but by 2022 they halved this amount to 10,000 and continue to work on lowering their emissions.
Ferrari use renewable energy for their base in Maranello and McLaren changed all Halogen Bulbs to LEDs saving 13,000 KwH of electricity each year, immensely reducing the amount of energy they use each year.
Even Haas have reduced the size of their pit wall gantry to reduce shipping and costs.
In conclusion, I do believe the Grand Prix will happen this upcoming Sunday.
According to weather forcasts rain and wind is scheduled to blow the smoke away from the track.
However, this will not be the last race we see cancelled due to environmental factors.
F1 is trying to put plans in place to be more friendly to the environment, but I think they need to look at the bigger picture on the how they structure the race calendar and continue to invest in technologies to battle this global crisis.
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