Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Pirelli Pole Position Award Signed By The 2023 Drivers
A very rare opportunity has arisen to own a piece of memorabilia signed by a full grid of F1® drivers. This pole position tyre trophy was made for the 2023 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, which was cancelled due to extreme flooding. In support of this, all 2023 drivers signed the tyre.
Signed memorabilia is rare, let alone pieces autographed by multiple drivers. The full grid in 2023 included: Max Verstappen, Sergio Pérez, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Zhou Guanyu. Valtteri Bottas, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, Kevin Magnussen, Nico Hulkenberg, Yuki Tsunoda, Nyck de Vries, Logan Sargeant, and Alex Albon.
The Pole Position Award Trophy
The pole position trophy is inspired by a Pirelli wind tunnel tyre. F1® teams use wind tunnels when developing their cars, to test the engineering and aerodynamics of their cars.
These wind tunnel cars are usually smaller than the real race cars, often 60% the size. A wind tunnel tyre is therefore smaller than a tyre you’d find on the race cars. These smaller versions pose as the perfect memento to be given to the pole sitters at the end of each qualifying session.
The Cancelled Event
The Grand Prix was due to be held over the 19th-21st May 2023 in Imola and would have been the sixth round of the season. The weekend was meant to be the first of two in 2023 to trial a new qualifying format that mandated specific tyre compounds. The new format would see drivers using hards during Q1, mediums in Q2 and softs in the final session. In addition, teams would only have 11 sets of tyres for the entire race weekend, rather than 13, as part of F1’s ambition of becoming more environmentally friendly.
However, this format would never happen in Imola due to extreme weather conditions. The Emilia Romagna area was hit by heavy rain, causing reportedly 14 rivers to break their banks, flooding 23 towns in the area. On the Tuesday before the Grand Prix, the F1® paddock was evacuated for safety reasons. Whilst the F1 paddock remained mostly dry, the F2® and F3® paddocks were flooded. By the night of the Wednesday, all roads leading to the circuit were under water. Staff were no longer able to reach the circuit meaning the race could not go ahead.
The floods caused devastation to the surrounding areas, with the safety of the people at the forefront. Many charities organisations and businesses worked together to raise funds to support the local community.
Key Features:
Although no race activity took place in Imola that year, this trophy is still a treasure for a collector to own. Being signed by all the drivers on the grid, it is an item among very few in existence to boast signatures from so many drivers.
- Signed by all 2023 F1® drivers
- Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Pirelli Pole Position Trophy
- Exclusive trophy made for the pole sitter
- Race was cancelled due to heavy flooding
- Own a piece of unrivalled history
