F1 Race Preview: Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

This weekend sees Formula 1 return to Europe for the first time this season, and all eyes will be on the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday, April 24.

This weekend also sees the return of the Sprint race on Saturday (with qualifying moved to Friday), which has undergone some changes. Firstly, there are more points on offer - the driver who finishes first in the sprint race will win eight points, instead of the three on offer in 2021. There will be a sliding scale down to one point for eighth place.

Secondly, the driver who sets the fastest time in qualifying will be credited with the pole position accolade. However, that doesn’t mean they will start P1 on the grid on Sunday – that will be the driver who wins the sprint race on Saturday.

What happened in Australia?

Each of the first three races of the 2022 World Championship has seen a battle between the two current Championship favourites, Max Verstappen (last year’s title winner) and Charles Leclerc, but around the streets of Albert Park, Melbourne, the Red Bull pace was no match for that of the Ferrari and for the first time in his career, Leclerc took an easy win with a lights-to-flag victory.

That win has increased Leclerc’s lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings to 34 points ahead of the unlikely second-placed man, George Russell. It was another costly DNF for Verstappen in Australia – he is now in sixth place in the title race, 46 points away from the leader. This is a bigger gap than we saw all last season!

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Emilia Romagna Grand Prix: History of the track

The Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari – better known as Imola, after the Italian town in which it is located – is one of the most romantic venues that Formula One goes to. Most still remember it as the place where the great Ayrton Senna lost his life and tributes are paid every year to mark the anniversary of his death (May 1, 1994).

After being dropped from the F1 calendar in 2007, the track was brought back in 2020 when F1 struggled to race outside of Europe due to COVID-19. It was such a success that it has won a place back on the calendar until 2025 (and hopefully, beyond). This will actually be the 30th Grand Prix to be held at the circuit, with it previously hosting 26 editions of the San Marino Grand Prix and the 1980 Italian Grand Prix.

Imola boasts a variety of challenges, and a greater-than-usual emphasis is placed on qualifying, owing to the narrowness track and the lack of chances to overtake. Of the 29 races, only nine have been won from pole but 18 have been won from the front row so there is a benefit to starting high on the grid. The race has never been won from further back than fifth on the grid.

However, with the Sprint race on Saturday, there will be plenty of drivers looking to make up places if they have given a poor performance in qualifying, and many will want to make the most of the opportunity to score points. With 10 drivers yet to make it into double digit points, every point is crucial.

Michael Schumacher holds the current record for wins, with seven victories at the track. Constructors Ferrari and Williams are tied on the most wins with eight apiece but for the first time in the current era of racing at Imola, Ferrari find themselves with a real chance of taking that record.

In the last two years, the spoils (pole positions, race wins, and fastest laps) have been shared between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. There is only one other driver on the current grid who has won around Imola and that is Fernando Alonso – the Spaniard won here in 2005 but by the smallest winning margin (a very slender 0.215 seconds ahead of Michael Schumacher). It was one of the greatest battles between the pair and anyone who didn’t see it live really should watch the recording! Could Verstappen and Leclerc provide an equally thrilling battle this weekend? Quite possibly.

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix: Who are the favourites?

With two wins from three races, Leclerc must go into the Emilia Romagna GP as the favourite to take the win and what a scene it would be if he could win in front of the Tifosi at this Italian mecca of motorsport.

He’ll also be the favourite to clock the fastest lap around Imola on Sunday – so far, he has taken the fastest lap point at every race of the season, and I don’t see why that would stop now. Ferrari have shown remarkable reliability in the opening three races of the season and with Leclerc looking so in tune with the car, you wouldn’t want to bet against him!

Ferrari are starting to grow a real lead at the top of the standings – yes, it’s early days in the Championship but they have a 49-point lead over their nearest rivals, Mercedes, while Red Bull are a further 10 points behind them. Red Bull need to find some reliability, or the reigning World Champion is likely to feel very let down!

Can McLaren get on the podium?

In the last two races at Imola, Daniel Ricciardo (2020, for Renault) and Lando Norris (2021, for McLaren) took the third spot on the podium. Could we see the Woking-based team back on there again this year?

They performed well in Australia (5th place for Norris and 6th place for Ricciardo) after having a less-than-successful start to the season but how much of that performance was track-specific is yet to be known. In my honest opinion, unless some external factors (DNFs, safety cars, etc.) come into play I think it would be a stretch to see them back on the podium.

However, Alpine (formerly Renault) do look to be up there for the ‘best of the rest’ title so Alonso getting onto the podium isn’t out of the question.

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix: Weather forecast

The weather in and around Imola looks very mixed going into the weekend and there could be the odd rain shower thrown into the mix. Add that to the fact that we have a Sprint race this weekend and we could see some surprises up and down the field. It might be a weekend where we can expect the unexpected!

Rain could seriously help the likes of Hamilton, who is still trying to find the sweet spot with his Mercedes – it appears to be lacking downforce compared to other cars so a little wet weather and two races across the weekend could help him replicate his podium success of the first race.

Down at the bottom of the table…

A final thought for the Silverstone-based team Aston Martin, who had a dire weekend in Australia. They will hope a return to Europe will see a return to form – they are the only team yet to score any points and with Alex Albon managing to secure a point last time out for Williams that could be worth a lot of money for them when it comes to the end of the season.

Kudos must be given to the Williams’ strategists and to Albon, who made his hard tyres last until the final lap of the race - bravo!!

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