Start, Imola, 2020

‘Made in Italy and Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix’ title chosen for Imola’s F1 race

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A new title has been chosen for Formula 1’s return to Imola, which hosted the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix last year.

Imola is due to hold the second event on the 2021 F1 calendar on April 18th. The name of its race has not previously been confirmed.

The title was announced jointly by the Italian government’s ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation and the Emilia-Romagna regional administration today. They intend to call it the Gran Premio del Made in Italy e dell’Emilia-Romagna – ‘Made in Italy and Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix’.

The announcement of the title followed the signing of an agreement by Italy’s minister of foreign affairs Luigi di Maio and the president of the Emilia-Romagna region Stefano Bonaccini. It is part of a joint national and regional promotion effort which will extend to other events in the area.

Imola’s race will be followed by a second round in Italy, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in September. Formula 1 is yet to formally approve a title for Imola race.

F1 referred to the two Italian rounds in its announcement today confirming the starting times for this year’s races as ‘Italy – Imola’ and ‘Italy – Monza’. However the Monza race promoter holds the rights to the Italian Grand Prix title.

Last year’s race at Imola was its first F1 round for 14 years. It previously held the Italian Grand Prix in 1980 and the San Marino Grand Prix from 1981 to 2006, typically in early May or late April. The track is situated around 90 kilometres north-west of the republic its F1 race was once named after.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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64 comments on “‘Made in Italy and Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix’ title chosen for Imola’s F1 race”

    1. And better than Italian Grand Prix West…

    2. @hunocsi it’s just too short. ‘Made in Italy, not in San Marino, people, get over it, and Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, you’re all welcomed but we hope Ferrari wins’ it’s better.

  1. god why… why do we have to ridicule ouserselves so much…
    just go with san marino GP maybe?

    1. @alfa145 Imola isn’t in San Marino, so better to use a name that reflects the relevant track location.

      1. Tommy Scragend
        29th January 2021, 20:07

        The suburb of “Made in Italy”?

        “Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix” makes sense, but the Made in Italy part of it is just silly.

      2. I live in Italy, but thanks for pointing that out for others. Clearly that hadn’t been an issue for decades, so I struggle to figure out what the reason would be to rename this the “made in Italy GP”. oh, yes, it’s money.

        1. @alfa145 So what?
          Wasn’t it money that rechristened the Italian GP as “Heineken Italian GP”?

          1. doesn’t make this any less a terrible name choice. if anything, it makes two instead of one

  2. Wow, that’s just ridiculous. It will look stupid on historic data sheets etc. etc.

    1. What about all those funny sponsors’ names that go alongside the GPs?

      1. Yeah I don’t like those either! We are heading towards US-style names. Yuck.

  3. What a joke. Why not then ‘Hollywoo Stars and Celebrities: What Do They Know? Do They Know Things?? Let’s Find Out!’

    1. @gsagostinho Double points for Bojack Horseman references.

      But I know what you mean, it’s a bit cumbersome. It’s not as if it sounds better in Italian, it’s worse.

      1. @keithcollantine not least because it makes it even more bizarre sounding when you have a handful of English words in the middle, just making them stick out even more.

  4. Wonder what the Saudi GP will be called? I know – the “Better Not Be A Woman” GP.

    1. How about the “9/11 Terror Attack 20-year Anniversary GP”?

    2. Probably “Everyone Never Wanted That Grand Prix”

    3. I would just go with the “No Human Rights GP”, it’s concise, straightforward, catchy, representative, unique… it has everything

      1. Of we go that route, maybe the US GP could be renamed as “the land of freedom as long as you are white GP”

  5. Hmm I probably would have gone with “San Marino”.

    1. Me too, but other than the reason for Imola not being in San Marino, I think F1 is ditching or retiring the San Marino name.

  6. Ha ha ha! That is terrible

    1. Official name: “This Name Is Way Too Long And Way Too Complicated For A Grand Prix’s Official Name And Even Mugello Had A Name That Is Shorter Than Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix Or Soon To Be Called A Way Too Long Name Grand Prix”

  7. What have the statisticians done to F1 to deserve this?

  8. Why make things unnecessarily complicated? Just call it Emilia-Romagna GP like last year.

    1. To make it so long a possible that people won’t like it at all: “This Name Is Way Too Long And Way Too Complicated For A Grand Prix’s Official Name Grand Prix”. Also add “Even Mugello Had A Name That Is Shorter Than Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix Or Soon To Be Called A Way Too Long Name Grand Prix” to that terrible-sounding name.

  9. This Name Is Way Too Long And Way Too Complicated For A Grand Prix’s Official Name Grand Prix

  10. Actually it’s made in San Marino

    1. No, it isnt’t. Imola is not San Marino.

  11. Sam Donaldson (ABC News)
    29th January 2021, 21:16

    MIGA “Make Italy Great Again”….

  12. “Italy – Imola”
    Yeah, that’ll work for me.

  13. What, “Best before 2021”, “Keep out of reach of children” and Tthis product may contain traces of nuts” names were already registered? The heck is going on?

  14. János Henkelmann
    29th January 2021, 22:05

    Why not call it “Emilia Romagna Grand Prix” again and establish that brand over the years?

    1. Did you know that “Emilia-Romagna” can be shortened to “EmiRo”?

  15. But can we get a digital rendition of Senna drinking a Heineken while wearing a Rolex superimposed on the huge former advertising board in Tamburello?

  16. Is this deliberately savvy marketing? I mean they’ve got more people taking about it than if they just went with “Emilia-Romagna” again…

    1. could be – it’s like the Pork The Other White Meat 400.

  17. Jose Lopes da Silva
    30th January 2021, 0:56

    A race with this name is likely to be hold on April 1st.

  18. Big oof, race promoters. Big oof.

  19. It’s not April 1 is it?

  20. Only in F1. Another good example of why most motorsports fans aren’t interested in F1.
    Just call it the Imola GP, for goodness sake. Or the San Marino GP like it used to be. Or the European GP, as has been used in many places before.
    Or anything that people will actually remember.

    Pure idiocy.

    1. Absolutely ridiculous.
      Nascar is the greatest racing series in North America, yet they named their races after sponsorship since day one.

    2. Not quite just f1 ‘The Tottenham hotspur stadium’. ‘the London stadium’. New homes of Spurs and West Ham. Its more a modern phenomenon. Racing Point seems almost inspired in comparison

  21. Wow, what a mouthful!!

  22. OK guys, I’ll let you use the Emilia-Romagna Italian Grand Prix name I’ve come up with for free next year.

  23. Do we know whether this will be ticketed yet? I know it’s still early but if it is this will be my first post-lockdown jaunt

    (and yes I’m aware that I’m optimistically assuming the lockdown rollout both here and in Italy will progress according to plan…)

  24. Wonder who’ll be the title sponsor of this race?

    1. @bullfrog Maybe Emirates like last year.

  25. You guys should just stop complaining ocer nothing.
    “Made in Italy” is pretty much a kind-of sponsorship.
    Sponsors are part of Grand Prix’ names since forever. Deal with it.

    1. It’s no Fuji Television or Aramco or Heineken or a mockery of the name.

    2. petebaldwin (@)
      30th January 2021, 19:22

      People are laughing at a terrible name and are allowed to. Deal with it.

    3. @liko41 is nobody allowed to have a bit of a joke about the fact that the name of this event is so clumsy and sounds silly? You seem to be the one who is getting the most wound up and complaining the most, given the way that you are so angrily reacting to the posts here.

      1. He never takes a chill pill.

  26. Naming rights sponsorship is normal in F1 and many other sports.
    This ^^ name is not normal. Nor is it memorable, catchy or clever.
    It’s just over complicated and a little bit weird.

  27. Those Italians and their abbreviations…

  28. Going to make a pretty busy t-shirt!

  29. How about ‘We-couldn’t-find-any-better-than-this-has-been-no-racing-track Grand Prix’

  30. the “Forza-Emilia-Romagna-Rosso-Andiamo-Race-Italia” Grand Prix

  31. Pirelli British Grand Prix 2020
    Rolex Belgian Grand Prix 2020
    Emirates United States Grand Prix 2019
    Honda Japanese Grand Prix
    Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix

    etc etc

    Sponsor names are nothing new, and not a big deal. nobody will use them and nobody will remember them.

    1. That’s what sponsor names on Grand Prix names are about. F1’s tyre supplier – or a company – slapped on the name!

      1. in this case it’s the same exact thing, except the sponsor is an Italian Government trademark

  32. I like it.

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