F1 racing, Emilia Romagna GP: Returning to Ferrari’s home ground

(Sports news – F1 news) Returning to the “old continent” of Europe, the next destination for the 4th round is the land of speed, Italy. Imola once again parallels Monza on the F1 calendar.

The Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, also known as the Imola Circuit, welcomed F1 cars for the first time in 1980 during the Italian GP leg. Then Italy hosted two races each year from 1981 to 2006, with the Italian GP taking place in Monza and the San Marino GP taking place in Imola. This place is considered the home ground of the Scuderia Ferrari racing team and always receives enthusiastic cheers from the fans.

After many years of absence, Imola returned to the F1 calendar in 2020, when the pandemic was still complicated, to fill the vacant positions due to some other races being canceled, and took the name Emilia Romgna GP. Similar to 2021, when Imola takes the place of Chinese GP. And by 2022, Imola is already an integral part of the F1 calendar, which will continue to host the Emilia Romagna GP race until 2025.

Track map

Imola Circuit has a length of 1 lap of 4,909 km, is one of the few races running counterclockwise. There is only 1 DRS area on the main line. The race takes place in 63 races with a total distance of 309,049 km. Lap record is 1 minute 15,484 seconds set by Lewis Hamilton in 2020.

Back at Pirelli’s home race, a trio of C2, C3 and C4 types are still selected for this Emilia Romagna GP, but the tires are a new 18-inch generation. Imola is where the new Sprint format is going for the first time in 2022. As always, each driver has only 12 sets of tires instead of 13, along with 6 sets of Intermediate tires and 3 sets of Wet tires. With only 2 test sessions, teams will have less time to tune their cars for the race.

Tires used at Emilia Romagna GP

Ferrari is showing strong performance in the 2022 season. Charles Leclerc is currently leading the standings with 71 points after 2 race wins and 3 more fastest lap points. Surely fans will look forward to the performance of the candidate for the championship at Ferrari’s home ground.

On the other hand, Red Bull is having a bad season with 3 DNFs out of 6 starting all, and all 3 are related to the fuel system. The defending champion was 46 points behind Leclerc in the rankings. That is definitely a big gap that needs to be closed. Red Bull needs a solution before it becomes a bigger problem.

Winning Sprint will pocket up to 8 points instead of 3 points like last year

As for McLaren, the season progress is in a positive direction. From the opening race without scoring, and finishing in the top 6 at Albert Park. But Melbourne is said to be suitable for McLaren, increasing their competitiveness. Has the “papaya” team really improved, or is it just a matter of track style?

And can’t miss the return of the new Sprint format, with 2 races encapsulated in 3 weekends. Watch Formula 1 Rolex Gran Premio Del Made in Italy e dell’Emilia Romagna 2022 with the first run taking place at 6:30pm on April 22.