#F1 Pirelli Gran Premio Del Made In Italy Dell’emilia Romagna 2021 Preview. #EmiliaRomagnaGP

After Lewis Hamilton fended-off the fast-charging Red Bull of Max Verstappen to clinch his 95^th-career victory in a thrilling season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, round two of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the famous Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola, Emilia Romagna, Italy for the Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio Del Made In Italy Dell’emilia Romagna 2021. This will be the 29^th time the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari has hosted Formula 1 as part of the World Championship (27 times as the San Marino Grand Prix, once as the Italian Grand Prix and the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix).

 

 

Emilia Romagna GP Preview – A look at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari

 

 

The Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari is a permanent racing circuit near the town of Imola, 40 kilometres (24.9 miles) east of Bologna. It is one of the few International racing tracks that run in an anti-clockwise direction. The circuit is named after Ferrari’s late legendary founder, Enzo Ferrari, and his son, Alfredo (Dino) Ferrari, who died in 1956 at the age of 24.

 

The track was inaugurated as a semi-permanent circuit in 1953. It featured no chicanes, so the runs from Acque Minerali to Rivazza, and from Rivazza all the way to Tosa, through the pits and the Tamburello, were only straights with a few small bends; the circuit remained in this configuration until 1972.

 

In April 1953, the first motorcycle races took place at the venue, whilst the first car race at the track was held in June 1954. In April 1963, the circuit hosted it’s first Formula 1 event, as a non-championship race, won by the legendary Jim Clark for Team Lotus. A further non-championship Grand Prix took place at Imola in 1979, which was won by iconic three-time World Champion Niki Lauda, racing for Brabham-Alfa Romeo.

 

In 1980, Imola officially debuted in the Formula One World Championship calendar by hosting the 1980 Italian Grand Prix. It was the first time since the 1948 Edition held at the Parco del Valentino, that the Autodromo Nazionale Monza did not host the Italian Grand Prix as it underwent refurbishment. The race was won by Brazilian Nelson Piquet in the Parmalat Racing Team Brabham-Ford BT49 and it was such a success that a new race, the San Marino Grand Prix, was made especially for Imola the following year and remained on the calendar until 2006. The race was held over 60 laps of the 5km circuit for a total race distance of 300 kilometres.

 

The circuit returned to the Formula One calendar in 2020 to fill the gaps caused by the coronavirus pandemic with the race named the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in honour of the region that it is located in.

 

It was announced in 2021, that the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari would replace the postponed Chinese Grand Prix as second round of the championship.

 

When the Formula 1 circus visits Imola, it is seen as the home Grand Prix for Scuderia Ferrari where the masses of “Tifosi” come out to support the “Prancing Horse”.

 

The current Grand Prix circuit layout is 4.909 kilometres (3.050 miles) in length and runs in an anti-clockwise direction.

 

Race distance is 309.049 kilometres (192.034 miles) in length with 63 laps in total and 19 corners.

 

Lewis Hamilton holds the fastest lap record set at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, posting a 1:15.484, in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team F1 W11 EQ Performance racer.

 

Seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher holds the record for most victories at Imola with seven to his name.

 

Scuderia Ferrari and Williams Racing hold the record for most victories at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari with eight each to their respective names.

 

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Emilia Romagna GP Preview – A Lap of the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari

 

 

Here is the onboard pole position lap of the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari from the last year’s event, set by Valtteri Bottas in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team F1 W11 EQ Performance racer. The Finn posted a 1:13.609. You can watch the footage right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_acrCQuCy-8

 

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Last Five Winners at Imola

 

 

2020: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 (Emilia Romagna GP). 2006: Michael Schumacher, Scuderia Ferrari (San Marino GP). 2005: Fernando Alonso, Renault Sport F1 Team (San Marino GP). 2004: Michael Schumacher, Scuderia Ferrari (San Marino GP). 2003: Michael Schumacher, Scuderia Ferrari (San Marino GP).

 

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Tyres

 

 

Pirelli will be bringing with them to Imola, the C2 white side-walled Hard tyres, the C3 yellow-marked Mediums and the red-branded C4 Softs alongside the green side-walled Intermediates and blue-marked Full Wets in-case of rain.

 

Drivers will have a fixed allocation of two sets of the hards, three sets of the mediums and eight of the softs.

 

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DRS Zones

 

There will be only one DRS Zone at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari which is on the main straight.

 

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Pitlane Speed Limits

 

Pitlane speeds will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.

 

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ICYMI: Bahrain GP Race Rewind: Hamilton fends off Verstappen to clinch Bahrain GP victory

 

 

Lewis Hamilton held off a fast-charging Max Verstappen in an epic closing-race battle to claim victory at the season-opening Bahrain GP, with the latter giving back position in a late pass.

 

Mercedes and Red Bull Racing opted for different tyre strategies, with Verstappen’s tyre life advantage in his second stint meaning he was hunting down Hamilton after leading the early stages of the Grand Prix from pole.

 

With four laps remaining, Verstappen put in a move around the outside of the Briton at turn four, which had been heavily observed for track limits by the FIA, and as the Red Bull driver went too wide off the kerb, he was told to give the place back further around the tour.

 

Verstappen was able to get back close to the Mercedes on the last lap but could not attempt another move and lost out by 0.745 seconds at the finish.

 

When the 56 lap Bahrain GP began, pole-sitter Verstappen covered Hamilton by immediately moving to defend the inside line into the first corner, successfully defending his lead whilst Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc put the narrowly slow-starting Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas under-pressure for third place.

 

Verstappen lead Hamilton around for the rest of the opening tour, with Leclerc getting by Bottas at turn four, shortly before the race was stabilised after Haas F1 Team’s Nikita Mazepin dropped his Ferrari-powered VF-21 racer by himself running through the turn three corner and spun off into the barriers.

 

The Grand Prix, which was cut to 56 laps after Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez saw his Honda-powered RB16B come to a halt on the formation lap before restarting his engine and got running again to start from the pit-lane, restarted on the fourth lap, with Verstappen leaving it as late as possible to return to racing speed due to headwind on the blowing down the main-straight.

 

After hitting the throttle again just before the finish line, Verstappen rapidly snatched the inside line again to defend on the rundown to turn one, with Leclerc also attacking Hamilton’s Mercedes to Verstappen’s left-hand side.

 

However, the race was neutralised again as Uralkali Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher became the second driver from the Kannapolis-Banbury outfit to have an incident all by himself as the German spun at the exit of turn four on the safety car restart lap, whilst just in-front of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly clipped the left-rear of Daniel Ricciardo’s MCL35M and lost his front wing, and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll tangled at the final apex of the double turns eight and nine complex.

 

The various incidents were cleaned up by the deployment of the virtual safety car, which ended as the leaders headed towards the turn eight hairpin on the fifth tour – meaning race-leader Verstappen did not have to worry about defending turn one for a third time.

 

But a suspected differential issue was causing the Dutchman problems as he reported a strange feeling when applying the throttle to his RB16B racer, which caused Mercedes to tell Bottas the lead was “all to play for” once he fought with Leclerc using DRS assistance into the first corner on the sixth lap.

 

The issue did not appear to be causing Verstappen any further problems during the next stage of the race, as he and Hamilton continued to increase their gap to Bottas with a series of laps in the low 1:36’s, with the other F1 W12 falling a chunk further back each time.

 

The lead at the front stabilised approaching the two-second mark, with Verstappen looking in full control.

 

However, on the 13^th tour, Mercedes decided to bring Hamilton in for an unexpected early stop – just after Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso had become the first soft tyre runner to pit – and swapped his mediums for hards.

 

Hamilton’s pace on the fresher rubber was very strong that it was rapidly a like-for-like strategy and would mean that Verstappen could lose out in any case, so Red Bull opted to leave him out until lap 17, when he came in for another set of C3 yellow-branded mediums – a lap after Bottas put on the harder compounds.

 

Hamilton’s gap when Verstappen emerged from the pits was just over seven seconds, but the Dutchman quickly began eating into the advantage.

 

A string of laps in the 1:34’s against Hamilton’s touring in the mid 1:35’s meant Verstappen had nearly halved the Briton’s lead by the 24^th tour, before the gap neutralised for a period.

 

But Verstappen was able to get back into the 1:34’s and again began closing-in on Hamilton, getting within two seconds on the 28^th lap, at the end of, which Mercedes brought the reigning champion in for another set of the C2 white side-walled harder tyres, wary of a Red Bull undercut.

 

Verstappen therefore reclaimed the race lead and remained out on track on his mediums until the end of the 39^th lap, with Hamilton evenly cutting the Dutchman’s gap out front to just under 16 seconds.

 

The result saw Verstappen facing an 8.8 second deficit as he rejoined the track from his final stop, but with 10-lap fresher tyres, which he quickly used to his advantage, began chomping into Hamilton’s lead once again – posting the fastest lap with a 1:33.228 on his first full lap out of the pits versing Hamilton’s 1:34.334.

 

After quickly cutting down the gap with several more tours in the 1:33’s, Verstappen’s chase slowed down a touch – although the Red Bull driver continued to reduce Hamilton’s advantage as they went through lapped traffic by around half a second a lap each time.

 

Verstappen eventually got within DRS range with five laps remaining, using it to setup his momentarily successful fourth corner pass.

 

After handing back the lead, Verstappen made a big slide into turn 13 near the end of lap 53 and the Dutchman struggled to close up back behind the Mercedes, eventually running out of time.

 

Bottas finished 37.383 seconds adrift of race-winning team-mate Hamilton after a slow second pit-stop had dropped the Finn a further 10 seconds behind the leaders and opted for a late stop to hunt down the fastest lap bonus point on the final lap.

 

McLaren’s Lando Norris finished fourth having fought with Leclerc shortly after the Monegasque-youngster had been overtaken by Bottas in the earlier stages and was followed home by a charging Red Bull of Perez, who recovered from his formation lap problems to take fifth place following a three-stop strategy.

 

Leclerc completed the top five, ahead of McLaren’s Ricciardo and ahead of new Ferrari team-mate Sainz, with Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda beating Aston Martin’s Stroll to ninth place at the end of the top ten runners.

 

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel wound up 15^th after being slapped with a penalty for colliding with Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon in the late stages of the Grand Prix with the latter eventually taking 13^th.

 

Gasly and Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi retired in the pits later on, while Alonso was the other casualty after suffering a rear brake issue in the mid-way point of the race.

 

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Emilia Romagna GP Preview – The Situation

 

 

Defending Emilia Romagna Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton returns to Imola sitting on top of the World Driver’s Championship standings with 25 points and a seven-point advantage to Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen who is second on 18 points, whilst Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas is third and a further nine points behind the Briton and on 16 points.

 

Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team heads to the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, on top of the World Constructors Championship standings with 41 points, with a 13-point lead over nearest rivals Red Bull Racing who are second on 28 points, and McLaren are a further 23-points behind the Silver Arrows in third place on 18 points.

 

After an exciting season-opener in Bahrain, which saw Red Bull’s marked improvement to battle Mercedes in an epic wheel-to-wheel fight between Hamilton and Verstappen. The defensive prowess of the seven-time World Champion was enough to overcome the raw speed of the talented Dutchman, who for the first time looks to have a competitive title-contending package behind him in his bid to extinguish the Silver Arrows dominance.

 

Head-to-head battles between Hamilton and Verstappen have been very brief in recent campaigns, but all signs are looking promising with more fights expected like at Bahrain, and an authentic rivalry that will define the 2021 championship season.

 

Expect more fireworks this weekend at Imola.

 

Neither World Champions Mercedes nor Red Bull expect the challengers’ speed from round one to be a once-off, with all kinds of circuits on the calendar set to favour a well-balanced Honda-powered RB16B – including the tight-narrow, yet very fast Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

 

Following pre-season testing and the season-opener in Bahrain, the famous Italian circuit should give us a better idea of the real pecking order and whether Mercedes’ title streak is under serious threat.

 

Behind Mercedes and Red Bull, we will also see who the third-fastest team in the field is, with McLaren and, of course Ferrari, which looked strong at the season-opening event.

 

Who will come out on top this weekend?

 

You can see the 2021 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top Ten) and Constructors Championship standings at the link: https://termiontrack.com/2021-f1-world-championship-standings/

 

The Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio Del Made In Italy E Dell’emilia Romagna 2021 race weekend begins with Free Practice 1 and 2, Friday April 16, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying, Saturday April 17, with the 63-lap race Sunday April 18.