Watch: AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda joins clean-up efforts in flood-hit Faenza
Emergency vehicles dealing with flooding in the home town of AlphaTauri. Faenza, May 2023.
Yuki Tsunoda has been putting his free time to fantastic use by helping the people of Faenza in their clean-up mission following the recent flooding.
The 2023 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, scheduled to be held at the Imola circuit, was sadly forced into cancellation as a result of flooding in the region.
It had been hoped that the Emilia Romagna GP would go ahead despite an initial bout of devastating floods a few weeks prior, but the rain returned on Tuesday and Wednesday ahead of the race weekend, escalating the situation once more.
The decision came on Wednesday that the race weekend would not go ahead, with the AlphaTauri team, based close to Imola over in Faenza, among those impacted as some staff fled their homes to stay at the team’s factory.
AlphaTauri have been posting information on their social media channels relating to how people can donate to aid the recovery mission, and Tsunoda has certainly been playing his part too.
Footage and images would emerge on social media of Tsunoda helping the people of Faenza to clean up the town as the flood waters begin to subside, with the town looking to get back to some sort of normality.
Yuki Tsunoda❤️
— Tutkumuz F1 (@F1tutkumuz) May 18, 2023
The images also show the scale of the devastation suffered in the region, Formula 1 rightly determining that it would have been inappropriate to press on with the race weekend and place unnecessary extra strain on the emergency services.
While the TV pen area and F2 paddock was impacted by flood water from the nearby Santerno River, the F1 paddock and pit area escaped the worst of the impacts.
Here's Yuki Tsunoda in the streets of Faenza, helping in the recovery from the recent flooding.
So admirable ❤️ pic.twitter.com/B63KVw14f9
— formularacers (@formularacers_) May 18, 2023
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The situation understandably caused great concern within the AlphaTauri team, who said in a statement after the Emilia Romagna GP was cancelled: “Scuderia AlphaTauri is very concerned about events unfolding over the past hours in Faenza and indeed in the whole Emilia-Romagna area, with flooding and heavy rain causing considerable damage.
“The team’s factory is currently unaffected and everything is being done to ensure the safety of our employees and their families.
“Our sympathies go out to all those affected.”
Essential personnel were allowed to enter the Imola circuit on Thursday in order to retrieve equipment already there, with the upcoming Monaco Grand Prix next weekend not at risk of disruption.
