How Emilia Romagna GP cancellation saved Gasly after ban risk

The cancellation of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix afforded F1 to take notice of matters outside the sport as the community surrounding Imola battled intensive rainfall, floods and landslides.

The region continues to battle the extreme weather with possessions and indeed lives being lost to the force of nature.

Without trivialising the cause of the cancellation, Pierre Gasly will no doubt breathe a sigh of relief over the non-event this weekend. Here's why.

Gasly's penalty points explained

Gasly has been sat on 10 penalty points since the Mexico City Grand Prix last October and has negotiated the subsequent races without falling foul of the stewards.

This included a challenging schedule taking in the Azerbaijan and Miami Grands Prix in successive weeks, with the Baku City Circuit hosting the first Sprint weekend of the season to add to the risk.

The Frenchman had picked up the first of his 10 points over the 12-month rolling period at last year's Spanish Grand Prix when driving for AlphaTauri and with 12 points needed to trigger a race suspension, the Emilia Romagna GP was the final race that posed a danger to Gasly.

But two points will drop on May 22, the day after the Imola race was initially scheduled, reducing the likelihood of a race ban.

The next three points will fall off Gasly's license on July 10.