F1, Bonaccini pushes Imola: “The GP must stay, together with Monza”

"All the conditions are there", the governor is sure, according to which Italy would have all the right cards to play to maintain both Grands Prix

BOLOGNA – Building on the success achieved over the weekend, the president of Emilia-Romagna Stefano Bonaccini is now pushing for the Formula 1 circus to pitch its tents in Imola in the future too. “All the conditions are there”, the governor is sure, according to which Italy would have all the right cards to play to maintain both Grands Prix: the one on the banks of the Santerno and the one in Monza. “I would never allow myself to say that we need Imola because we have to replace Monza – Bonaccini makes it clear, today on the sidelines of an inauguration at the Sant’Orsola Polyclinic in Bologna – absolutely, we need to keep both of them because this is a homeland of motorsport, with feats that appeal to the whole world. Of course, Imola and Emilia-Romagna have something very important to say.”

For this reason the Grand Prix in Imola “we have to make it stay – insists the governor – whoever comes after me will have to do it. All the conditions are there, even though the international competition is incredible“. Yesterday, Bonaccini cites as an example, “there was the Thai Prime Minister who I believe is interested in bringing a GP to his country, rightly so. You have seen how F1 has grown”. Yesterday, among other things, “I hugged Stefano Domenicali (president and CEO of the Formula One Group, ed.) – the president of the Imola region is keen to say – it is no coincidence that Emilia-Romagna DNA has brought F1 in recent years to extraordinary levels of excellence and interest, especially among the youngest”.

In the Formula 1 circus, notes Bonaccini, “Italy is one of the very few countries that has two GPs, one might say that the one in Imola has an extraordinary quality from the point of view of the characteristics of the circuit. The drivers, from Verstappen to Leclerc, from Sainz to Hamilton, say that it is one of the most exciting. Yesterday everyone told me that for organization and hospitality we have no equals in the world. So there are all the conditions to keep it br>Bonaccini then thanks the minister Matteo Salvini, “who yesterday used very important words, as representative of the Government, to do everything to keep them both, Monza and Imola”..
In complex, the president points out, “yesterday’s response was extraordinary”, with a budget of over 200,000 people over the weekend and “270 million euros of related activities, more than 10 times the cost of the GP – he underlines – also accompanied by the satisfaction of seeing Ferrari on the podium again in ImolaNobody believed that we would bring the GP back to Imola and this has allowed us to be the only region in the world that has four grand prix in one year: F1, MotoGP, Superbike and Formula E. For the global Motor Valley it is an incredible satisfaction.” Then, adds Bonaccini, “we are in the land of Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, Ducati, Dallara: how do you take a GP away in a land like this?”, the governor comments.