Prince Philip Funeral: F1 reschedules Imola GP qualifying and practice

As a mark of respect for the funeral service of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh that will take place on Saturday, Apr. 17, Formula 1 and the FIA have made changes to the schedule of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Imola this weekend.

The one-hour qualifying session, which was previously scheduled to take place at 2 p.m. BST on Saturday, will be moved ahead to 1 p.m. in order for it not to clash with the Royal Funeral that will be held in Windsor.

Meanwhile, Saturday's final practice session will be moved from 11 a.m. BST to 10 a.m. to be in accordance with F1 regulations that state qualifying must be held 120 minutes after FP3.

On Friday, the two practice sessions – FP1 and FP2 – have been brought ahead by half an hour due to rules that state the two sessions must be separated by at least two and a half hours and FP3 on Saturday should start no less than 19 hours after the second practice session comes to a close.

F1 and FIA also confirmed that there will be a minute of silence ahead of qualifying as an opportunity for people to pay their respects.

A number of teams have already paid tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh, with Red Bull Racing stating that the flags at their Milton Keynes base will fly at half-mast out of respect for His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Seven of the 10 Formula One teams, as well as the sport itself, are UK-based including champions Mercedes. Prince Philip was also president-in-chief of the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) for 42 years.

F1 is not the only sport to have shifted their weekend schedule to avoid a clash with the funeral. Sporting events across the UK including the Premier League and EFL games along with Premiership Rugby games and horse racing meetings have been rescheduled.