PRIXVIEW – Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix

Round four sees F1 make a pit stop in between the flyway races in Emilia-Romanaga and Imola. The circuit is sadly remembered for the tragic weekend in 1994 and the deaths of three-time champion Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger which changed the sport. This weekend marks the thirtieth running of a championship Grand Prix at Imola.

Officially called Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari was revived as a replacement race during the pandemic however has now returned to the calendar as regular races, previously called the San Marino Grand Prix it was renamed in 2020 after the region it’s a circuit that challenges drivers. It’s a circuit that blends history, no modern run-off areas and is more difficult to overtake.

Overtaking at Imola has been mixed over its time on the calendar, but despite the difficulties in the last two races, there has been drama. Most memorably the crash on lap thirty-one between George Russell and Valtteri Bottas at Tamburello causing a the red flag.

The three-mile circuit is one of a dying breeds of circuit, not these modern venues with large tarmac runoff areas. Originally built from public roads it was designed to be a test venue to build the region’s economy after WWII and today the title sponsor is the region’s tourist body, home to Ferrari, Alpha Tauri and Dallara who manufacture Haas’s chassis, Imola is Italy’s Silverstone as it’s the beating heart of Italian motorsport.

Drivers will be challenged by Imola as it’s a circuit that punishes mistakes and rewards bravery when drivers pull off successful overtakes. It is not like the modern ‘Tilke Dromes’ which have large tarmac run-off areas which allow drivers to recover easily from going off and that increases the chance of safety cars.

Imola was designed and built by linking roads in the town together, hosting its first Grand Prix as a non-championship race in 1963 won by Jim Clark. The second non-championship race was won by Niki Lauda. Despite safety changes most noticeably after 1994, the circuit is still challenging sweeping corners, chicanes and gravel, giving little room for error increasing the chances of safety cars, yellow flags.

Tamburello is probably the most famous corner in the sport, for all the wrong reasons even before Senna’s fatal crash in 1994, it was and still does demand respect and courage. Before it was replaced by the chicane it was very bumpy and had dangerously little room between the track and a concrete wall without a tyre barrier that separated the circuit from the Santerno river that runs adjacent to it.

Nelson Piquet crashed there in 1987, Gerhard Berge om1989 following a front wing failure, in testing Michele Alborto in 1991 and Riccardo Patrese in 1992.

Imola is part of Ferrari country the Scuderia ties with Williams on eight wins. The circuit return to the calendar went better than expected as there was overtaking in the last two races, with the 2022 regulation changes that the racing will be a lot closer. Last April’s race we saw closer racing in my mind than we were expecting , which could give us an exciting race at Imola.

Michael Schumacher holds the record for wins at Imola, his first win forgotten in the tragic weekend in 1994. Most of the seven time champions’ wins coming in. in the early 2000s, apart from 2001 which was won by his brother Ralf.

Damon Hill took the first of three back to back wins for Williams in 1995, with David Coulthard managing to hang onto his 1998 despite struggling with his engine late in the race. Coulthard eased off and took the victory and even matched the Ferrari’s pace. The following year Schumacher started his run of four wins in five years.

The final two races titled ‘San Marino’ were scenes of epic battles between Schumacher and Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard won by two-tenths in 2005 following fight between the two, with Schumacher coming through to challenge Renault in the closing laps but unable to pass Alonso who took the victory.

The re-match the following season, saw Schumacher win from pole after only losing position to Alonso despite the Renault trying to pass the Ferrari. However, ran wide in the closing stages giving Schumacher a clear run to his seventh win at Imola.

Originally intended as a one of, the race at Imola was revived in 2020 as several races were cancelled due to the pandemic. Lewis Hamilton took victory ahead of his teammate Valtteri Bottas, who started from pole with Pierre Gasly putting Alpha Tauri third their best qualifying since Monza in 2008. Last years race saw Max Verstappen take the victory.

Race & Circuit Guide

*Wins at Imola across Italian/San Marino/Emilia-Romagna Grands Prix

2022 Sprint Format

• The top eight finishers in the sprint will receive points eight for the win to one point for eighth place.
• The result of the sprint will set the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix, however, the pole position will be credited to the driver fastest in traditional qualifying.

Fast facts

• Imola has held Grand Prix under four different names Imola, Italian, San Marino and the current name Emilia Romagna, after the region it is in.
• the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is set to be the first F1 race at Imola with fans in attendance since 2006.
• Stefano Domenicali, current F1 CEO, was born in the town of Imola. As a child, he would spend his weekends helping out in the paddock and in the media centre, an experience that piqued his interest in motor racing.
• The 1980 Italian Grand Prix, which took place at Imola, is the only time in F1 World Championship history that the Italian Grand Prix has not been held at Monza.
• The Imola circuit’s full name is Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari. In 1970, it was renamed in honour of Enzo Ferrari’s son Dino. Enzo’s own name was added to the title following his death in 1988.
• JJ Lehto holds the record for scoring a podium from furthest back on the grid, the Dallara driver started sixteenth and finished third in 1991.
• Mick Schumacher has taken the most poles of any current driver at Imola, taking two in Italian F4.

Event timetable

What happened in 2021?

Lewis Hamilton beat both Red Bull’s of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez by eight-hundredths of a second to take back to back poles at Imola the ninety-ninth of his career. Throughout practice, Hamilton had looked unable to challenge for the pole, while his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas was unable to replicate his form in practice which left him seventh.

Charles Leclerc showed a step forward for the team at the circuit named after their founder and his son, going fourth fastest at the high-speed Imola circuit. Leclerc will have a tough task of keeping midfield rivals at bay without the assistance of a team-mate, with McLaren’s Norris a particular threat.

Verstappen took victory in a chaotic and dramatic race, which was by a crash on lap thirty-one by a crash by Bottas crashing into the Williams of George Russell.  The dutchman again won the restart passing Hamilton tried to go to the outside through Tamburello, while Ferraris Charles Leclerc passed Sergio Perez just before the red flag.

Hamilton meanwhile slid off through Acque Minerali, allowing the Dutchman to build a five-second gap. Verstappen’s moment came on the restart, under braking for the first Rivazza, he briefing lost control of his Red Bull and went over the inside kerb, before collecting the car well and putting his foot down for the restart.

Race Result – 1) M. Verstappen, Red Bull – Honda, 02:02:34.598, 2) L. Hamilton, Mercedes, +22.000, 3) L. Norris, McLaren – Mercedes, +23.702

What to watch for?

Ferrari head into this weekend looking like the strongest team, having won two of the first three races, although that is thanks partly due to reliability issues for Red Bull. Imola is a very different circuit as there isn’t a huge amount of tarmac run-off and we know that makes any mistakes more costly, but Imola is a circuit where accidents can happen and that makes strategy important.

Mercedes I think to remain in no man’s land, unless the upgrade package is brought, Imola could, however, see them pick up points if there are mistakes or clever strategy calls. Overtaking could be a important factor, these 2022 regulation changes have created closer racing but how will the two races at Imola play out.

I think teams are treating this as a flyway race, sitting between Melbourne and Miami before the proper start to the European season no team has spoken about bringing upgrades, plus the sprint format only gives teams an hour before qualifying and the cars going into park ferme. This is also a sprint weekend going to mean only an hour of practice going into qualifying, this is another middle circuit in my view between high speed/downforce and a more technical circuit.

The midfield battle looks to be between Alpine who are bringing what they are describing as a “significant”, this could, in theory, allow them to close the gap to Mercedes. But I think Imola might not be the best place to understand these battles further because of the sprint format. Remember that the sprint format led to a busier FP1 session with the focus being on the single lap pace.

McLaren looked to have a better weekend in Melbourne and can they build on that as they look to enter the midfield battle. Can they maybe start to get the momentum going as they could be fighting with Alpine but the difficult start in the middle east I think they need to start showing potential if they want a chance of hanging onto fourth where they were last year.

2021 vs 2020 Race Data

2021 Lap time comparison

Tyres