IMOLA, Italy — Formula One drivers Nyck de Vries and Yuki Tsunoda have shared stories of struggling to get out of the deadly flooding in northern Italy after the cancellation of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, which was set for Sunday.
Floods that have killed at least nine people — with more still unaccounted for — and caused more than 10,000 to be evacuated from their homes forced the race to be called off Wednesday. The track for the Emilia-Romagna GP is next to a swollen river, and F1 said it wanted to avoid further burdening emergency services.
The next race is now the Monaco GP on May 28, and the Spanish GP is a week later.
De Vries and Tsunoda drive for AlphaTauri, which is based in Faenza, close to the Imola track. Rescuers used boats to transport people through the flooded streets of Faenza on Thursday.
De Vries, from the Netherlands, said he was trying to reach Faenza shortly before midnight Tuesday ahead of marketing events at the factory scheduled for Wednesday, but the roads were cut off.