Tsunoda, a real hero: Helping to clean up Faenza after the floods in Northern Italy

The storm over northern Italy caught almost all the F1 drivers still at home or, at most, at their team's bases.

Only two were close to the area where the heaviest rain fell and where the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was to be held and one of them has been getting involved with the clean-up effort.

The two drivers who got caught were the two AlphaTauri competitors, Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries.

The Dutchman had an odyssey, as the worst day, Tuesday, caught him on his way to Faenza.

De Vries was able, though, to get to Florence airport and get out of the area, as he reported on his social media.

This was not the case for the Japanese. He was already in the city where his team is based, just 15 kilometres from the Imola circuit, and stayed there to see the flooding first hand.

Tsunoda not standing by

The Japanese rider, moreover, has not stood idly by. First he posted on his social media an appeal for donations to alleviate the disaster caused by the torrential rains.

Then, without giving it any publicity, he ed other of AlphaTauri in cleaning up the streets of the town centre.

With a shovel he helped to remove the mud, water and dirt that had accumulated in the streets and shops of Faenza.

Josh Kruse, who is in charge of social media for the Italian group, gave a brief of the actions of the driver from the Land of the Rising Sun.

Tsunoda spends extensive periods of time in Italy and the city, preferring to stay there when there are several F1 races in Europe rather than travel all the way back to Japan.

This involvement has always been highlighted by Franz Tost and other team officials from the Red Bull subsidiary.