Formula 1 returns to Europe for an appointment with history

Milan, 13 May 2024 - The Formula 1 World Championship returns to Europe over eight months on from the previous Grand Prix to be held on the Old Continent and in the same country, Italy, that hosted that race in Monza on 3rd September last. In fact, Italy has hosted a total of 105 world championship Grands Prix, the most of any country, 30 of them at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola.

This weekend’s race is only the fourth edition of the Gran Premio dell’Emilia-Romagna e del Made in Italy, previously held from 2020 to 2022, as last year’s event had to be cancelled because of floods that hit large parts of the region, causing some fatalities and devastation.

For the seventh round of the season, Pirelli has gone with the softest trio of dry tyre compounds: C3 as Hard, C4 as Medium and C5 as Soft. It will be the first time this trio will be put to the test at the Emilian track, although it was to have been the choice for last year’s cancelled event. In 2022, the selected compounds were C2, C3 and C4.

Imola is one of the oldest fixtures on the championship calendar, known for being very technical and therefore highlighting the skills of the drivers who have to tackle quite complex combinations of corners and braking zones. Enzo Ferrari was one of the promoters of the project to build a circuit on the hills around Imola and he described it as a sort of “little Nurburgring.” Orginally, in 1957, the venue was named in memory of his son Dino, his own name being added after his death in 1988.

The track is not particularly hard in terms of the forces exerted on the tyres, even if the asphalt is still relatively abrasive, despite the fact that the last time resurfacing work was carried out on 70% of its almost five kilometre length dates back to 2011. With a busy programme of track action over the Grand Prix weekend, the road surface offers a good level of grip that increases the more the cars run.

With 19 corners (10 to the left and 9 to the right) and a significant 30 metre elevation change from the highest point to the lowest, the track is rather narrow and there is only one DRS zone, making overtaking far from easy. Therefore, qualifying plays an important part in deciding the outcome of the race, which explains why it has never been won from lower than fifth on the grid and 19 times out of 30, the driver first past the chequered flag had started from the front row.

On paper, having the three softest compounds could produce more options in terms of pit stop strategy in a race that usually would require just one tyre change, especially as time lost in the pit lane here is one of the highest of the year. There is also the strong possibility of the race being neutralised at some point, something that has happened in over 70% of races run at Imola to date. Recently, a few minor modifications have been made to the track, including the reintroduction of gravel on the outside of the Acque Minerali corners, leading to a much greater penalty for anyone going off at that point.

Thirty Grands Prix have been held alongside the banks of the Santerno river that runs past the circuit. The current name is the third to be attributed to the race at Imola. It first appeared on the calendar in 1980, the one and only time the Italian Grand Prix was held anywhere other than Monza. Then, from 1981 to 2006, Formula 1 raced in Emilia under the flag of the nearby Republic of San Marino. In the troubled times of Covid, racing’s blue riband category found a welcome in Imola as the Gran Premio dell’Emilia-Romagna, with the words “Made in Italy” added to its title as from the following year.

Of the 20 drivers entered this year, only Fernando Alonso raced at Imola when it was known as the San Marino Grand Prix. The Spaniard won in 2005 after a thrilling duel with Michael Schumacher, while the following year the positions were reversed between the two rivals. The German is the most successful driver at Imola, with seven wins, six of them with Ferrari, one with Benetton, while Williams and Ferrari share the honours among the teams with eight apiece. When it comes to pole positions here, Ayrton Senna tops the list with 8, the last of which he secured on 30 April 1994, a day overshadowed by the death of the Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger. The following day, 1st May, the same fate befell Ayrton in what was one of the most tragic weekends in the history of the sport. To mark the 30th anniversary of their deaths, this weekend a series of events have been organised by the promoter and the entire Formula 1 family.