RETURN TO IMOLA
After a 14-year absence Formula 1 returns to the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, the site of one of motorsport’s darkest weekends back in 1994, and yet this is a welcome return. When F1’s visit was confirmed there was a certain disbelief, even among the fans. After all, this will be the third GP held in Italy this year, a remarkable and unexpected turn of events.
It will be an atypical event, given that the weekend is scheduled for an unusual date (1 November), but still an eagerly awaited one. There is much curiosity about the feeling this new generation of drivers will encounter on what is a very traditional track, one with combinations of corners seldom encountered on the sanitised ‘Tilkedromes’ that have predominated recently – not to mention the presence of gravel traps rather than asphalt runoffs.
This June Alphatauri completed a ‘filming day’ at Imola, and Daniil Kvyat confirms his enthusiasm for the layout. “Imola is a special track,” he says. “I’ve known it for some time, I did one of my first tests here with a car in 2010. The track is really fantastic to drive, with some nice fast corners.”
The most demanding points are the Acque Minerali chicane and the Variante Alta, sections where a mistake involves a high price to pay given the absence of runoff. Imola is a venue where riding the kerbs can bring a huge benefit to lap time if judged correctly, or performance-limiting damage if not. Sadly the current layout doesn’t favour overtaking; the chicanes introduced after Ayrton Senna’s fatal accident reduced the overall speed as well as breaking up the long straight leading to Tosa, a corner which used to be a key point of attack.
Ferrari fans have keenly anticipated F1’s return to the circuit named after Enzo and Dino Ferrari and it’s the hope of a new generation of enthusiasts – those who have read stories about a track seemingly forgotten by major international events – that this is not a one-off. If it felt like a miracle that Mugello got a calendar date, followed by Imola, it would be churlish not to hope for similar miracles in future, wouldn’t it?