Imola, 19 March 2023 – At the Gran prize of Formula 1 there are still two months to go, but the first of the provisional grandstands in view of the appointment of 19-21 May. One block from around 800 seatsformed by many blue seats, is already ready for the curve Gresini (ex Variante Alta), where in recent weeks work has been done to obtain the suitable space to host the temporary structure. Four more will arrive in the area shortly: three next to the one just installed, including a smaller one for the disabled, and another on the opposite side, i.e. inside the tracked.
On the other hand, one of the two temporary grandstands (the other will be positioned inside just like in 2022) will be installed outside the perimeter of the circuit, i.e. in front of the three concrete stands, at Acque Minerali, where a excavator has been in action for a few days already. Ideally proceeding clockwise along the track, therefore the opposite of what they usually do with car and motorcycles (including the mysterious ‘camouflaged’ racing car currently busy along the hairpin bends of the circuit), here is the construction site of the Shear. The bankruptcy of the part of the ecological grandstand affected by the works appears to have been completed by now. The new seats will soon be able to be installed, which will allow a few thousand fans to be welcomed again.
Of grandstands provisional, three in all, will also be installed in correspondence of the nearby Villeneuve variant, another point where there are usually no stands available to spectators. Two instead the provisional grandstands that will expand the number of places available along the starting straight. One will be placed, as in 2022, between the central block and the Rivazza hill. The other should instead be installed, as per the map available on Ticketone.it, on the opposite side.
But work is also already going on in the area behind the central grandstands, where the press room could be moved, given that the spaces of the media center, those of the museum Checco Costa and the tower should all be the prerogative of welcoming more or less VIP guests.
An arrangement of the spaces of the Autodrome thus described, also including lawns and grandstands at Rivazza and Tosa, is intended to significantly increase the maximum capacity of the facility. The hope of Formula Imola, formalized a few weeks ago by the president Gian Carlo Minardi, is to go from 73,000 seats per day in 2022 to 93,000 this year.
At the moment, we proceed step by step. Around 160,000 tickets for the three-day event have already been placed on the market. And the 70 thousand coupons sold was already exceeded at the beginning of the month. While for Friday (free practice) and Saturday (qualifying) there are still ample availability, for Sunday’s race there are currently only seats left for a temporary grandstand at the Villeneuve Variation, one at the Mineral Waters (260 euros) and one at the Gresini (300 euros). Tickets also available for the Tosa ecological grandstand (300 euros) and for one of the central provisional grandstands (660 euros). Net of any further future availability, therefore, all the other sectors seem already sold out, again speaking of Sunday’s race; circular tickets included. The goal, close at hand, is to exceed the 130,000 total attendance in the three days of the event recorded in 2022.
