Today Is the Last Day to Approve an Imola Replacement Race

Today is the final day to put the stamp of approval on an Imola substitute race. Teams have been informed that 10 November is the cut off for a replacement Grand Prix at the circuit to be put in place for 6 December, taking over the slot now assigned to Abu Dhabi. As for cancellations, there have been none. Qatar is still down for 29 November and Abu Dhabi for 6 December, and Formula 1 has made no formal move to confirm the deadline even exists.

The date is really about the fallback position, not the calendar per se. Should the two Middle East rounds go by the wayside after today, there is nothing to take their spot and the season would come to a close in Las Vegas on 22 November. Imola has been in a holding pattern for months, and its organizers would be left with under four weeks to put a Grand Prix together, which is the practical reason for drawing the line where it has been drawn.

Not the first deadline of its kind

The paddock has been presented with such deadlines before. In Baku, Audi’s Mattia Binotto informed reporters that an F1 Commission had made mid-October the final word on the issue. But that date passed and Imola was left to wait while Qatar and Abu Dhabi remained on the schedule. Stefano Domenicali last week put it down to circumstances in the region over which Formula 1 has no say; the sport means to go by the published calendar but he would not put his name to a guarantee of it.

With both championships already in the bag, there are three rounds to go. Las Vegas is set for 20 to 22 November. All that is left to be determined is who will finish second in the drivers’ standings, Verstappen having a 17 point lead over Russell and 18 over Hamilton, and third in the constructors’, where McLaren and Red Bull are separated by 17 points.