#Formula1 Rolex #EmiliaRomagnaGP 2022 Preview. #F1

2022 Emilia Romagna GP Preview – After Charles Leclerc stormed to a dominant victory at the Australian Grand Prix to extend his World Driver’s Championship lead, round four of the 2022 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the famous Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola, Emilia Romagna, Italy for the Formula 1 Rolex Gran Premio Del Made In Italy Dell’emilia Romagna 2022. This will be the 30^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, twice as the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and once as the Italian Grand Prix). This will also be the first of three venues for the 2022 season that features the “F1 Sprint” format.

 

 

2022 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 at the 2020 event.

 

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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2022 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 Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team F1 W12 EQ Performance racer. The seven-time world champion posted a 1:14.411. You can watch the footage right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGeIRbM0mec

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2022 Emilia Romagna GP Preview – Last Five Winners at Imola

 

 

2021: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing (Emilia Romagna GP). 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).

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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: Leclerc storms to dominant Australian GP victory as Verstappen retires

 

 

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc produced a flawless drive to claim a dominant victory at the Australian GP as title-rival Max Verstappen retired on lap 39.

 

The Monegasque-youngster lead throughout the majority of the race, which was interrupted by two safety cars – after which Leclerc dropped Verstappen on both occasions, despite coming under intense pressure in the second restart.

 

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez finished in second place and ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, who gained big under the safety car, but had to hold off a fast-charging team-mate of Lewis Hamilton to the chequered flag.

 

When the 58-lap Australian GP began, Verstappen looked to have a slightly better start than pole-sitter Leclerc, but the latter was able to sweep across his rival and defend the inside line into the opening corner, where behind Hamilton jumped in-front of Perez, who was following team-mate Verstappen’s line into the inside.

 

Leclerc moved to a 0.6 second gap by the end of the opening tour, with the top two switching quick sectors before the early proceedings was stabilised by the first deployment of the safety car.

 

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz started on the C2 white side-walled harder compounds but got a poor run off the line from ninth and fell down the field, with the Spaniard starting to fight back on the second lap when he lost the rear of his F1-75 racer after overtaking Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher into the rapid left turn nine kink.

 

Sainz’s correction sent him across the grass on the inside and spun on it’s slippery surface, shooting sideways back across the circuit at the turn ten exit – just in-front of Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN’s Zhou Guanyu – and ended up beached into the gravel trap on the far side.

 

The virtual safety car was briefly deployed before the full safety car was sent out, which remained out until the beginning of lap seven where Leclerc was easily able to maintain his lead over Verstappen despite his F1-75 porpoising heavily on a full tank at the end of each straight.

 

The front-two breezed clear of Hamilton and Perez – the only drivers able to run in the 1:23’s, with Leclerc gaining enough tenths in each sector of the two tours that followed the race going green to be out of a DRS threat from Verstappen by the time the system was re-activated.

 

The Ferrari driver continued to post a string of fastest laps, into the 1:23.3 range and reached a lead of almost two seconds by the 11^th tour.

 

This was increased to three seconds at the end of the next lap as Verstappen suffered a lock-up at turn 13 as he pushed, but dropped a second, then complained that his C3 mediums were heavily worn.

 

Verstappen’s tyre trouble meant he slipped back into the 1:24’s bracket and with Leclerc able to keep his speed high, the Ferrari’s gap increased to six seconds.

 

It hit 8.3 seconds when Red Bull brought Verstappen in for a fresh set of hards on the 18^th lap, which left Leclerc, leading by a comfortable gap ahead of Perez, who had re-overtook Hamilton shortly after the safety car was called in.

 

Ferrari left Leclerc out until the 22^nd tour to swap his mediums for hards – the same lap Mercedes brought in Hamilton and got him out in-front of Perez.

 

But a trickly warm-up lap on the C2 rubber meant the Red Bull could close in at the fast-sweeping turn nine and shoot in-front just before the quick-left and just before the race was stabilised once again due to the second deployment of the safety car.

 

This was because Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel’s horror run at Albert Park ended in the barriers ahead of the rapid, tight right hander of turn five – the four-time world champion lost the rear of his AMR22 racer hitting the exit kerb of the previous left and darted into the wall on the inside of the circuit.

 

With Vettel needing to be moved from the short straight between turns five and six, and debris scattered, which had to be cleared from ahead of the former, the safety car remained out until the 27^th tour, with Leclerc’s gap down to 6.9 seconds thanks to Verstappen’s solid pace on the harder tyre after his pit-stop – totally wiped out.

 

When the race went green a second time, Leclerc’s run was compromised by running wide and Verstappen was able to close in on the Ferrari and get alongside on the rundown to turn one.

 

But the Monegasque-youngster was able to remain ahead with solid defending on the inside, which he repeated on the next straight and maintained the lead despite being pressured.

 

Leclerc was then out to rebuild his gap to the Dutchman – again moving clear from the Red Bull with ease, reaching a gap of 3.4 seconds by the end of the 31^st tour, the two leaders reaching the 1:22’s bracket having spent the early proceedings after the safety car in the 1:23’s and 1:24’s respectively as they worked to maintain the tyre’s critical life.

 

Like in the initial stint, Leclerc posted a series of fastest laps as he pulled clear of Verstappen, his lead was above five seconds by the end of the 35^th tour.

 

The lead looked to continue to grow – especially when Leclerc responded to Verstappen’s lap 37 fastest lap with an even better one on the following tour – when Verstappen suddenly retired on the inside of the second corner on the 39^th lap.

 

Smoke coming out of the RB18’s airbox suggested an engine problem was the cause, with the car recovered by the virtual safety car deployment and so Leclerc’s lead over Perez was maintained.

 

Leclerc crossed the line to clinch the Australian GP victory and extending his championship lead to 34 points, still with a solid 1:21 pace for the rest of the race, to win by 20.524 seconds – taking the fastest lap bonus point honours with a 1:20.260 on the final tour, where he also had to deal with traffic.

 

Perez finished clear in second place, with Russell completing the podium after he was able to pit during the Vettel safety car period and emerge just ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso – who was yet to stop after starting on the C2 harder rubber – Perez and Hamilton.

 

After Alonso dropped due to his older tyres, Perez chased down Russell and pushed him for a few laps before passing with DRS assistance on the outside line to turn 11 – the Briton not fighting hard, possibly due to Mercedes warning that “tyre management was more important than track position.”

 

This looked to have cost Russell the podium, but Verstappen’s retirement put him back into third and finished ahead of team-mate Hamilton who was fourth.

 

McLaren’s Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo came home in fifth and sixth places respectively with Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon taking seventh.

 

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN’s Valtteri Bottas overtook AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly late on when the AT03 racer locked-up and went off at turn 13 – the pairing ending up in an entertaining battle with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Alonso once the double world champion had stopped in the closing stages of the Grand Prix.

 

Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon scored his first point for the Grove-based squad after doing an impressive 57 laps on the harder compounds, running in-front of Ocon for a long period after the second safety car and gained as the fight behind became intense, which meant the Thai-Briton driver could stop very late and not slip outside the top ten.

 

Alfa Romeo’s Zhou ended the Australian Grand Prix in 11^th place and ahead of Stroll who was 12^th – with the Canadian slapped with a 5-second penalty for aggressively weaving in defence against Bottas – the Aston Martin gaining twice after pitting under the initial safety car and completing a two-stop strategy to get there amongst his rivals that started in-front before falling back.

 

The Haas F1 Team pairing followed with Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen taking 13^th and 14^th respectively as AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda came 15^th in the classification.

 

Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi wound up 16^th, ahead of Alonso who was the last finisher after his strategy backfired when he suffered severe tyre degradation late on and fell down the order to finish 17^th.

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The Situation

 

 

Charles Leclerc returns to Imola sitting on top of the World Driver’s Championship standings with 71 points and a 34-point advantage to Mercedes’ George Russell who is second on 37 points, whilst Carlos Sainz is third and a further 38 points behind his Ferrari team-mate and on 33 points.

 

After winning two of the season’s opening three Grands Prix, Leclerc has enjoyed a solid start in his very competitive Ferrari F1-75 racer and already has a comfortable 34-point gap in the Driver’s Championship as the F1 circus heads to Imola, a home race for the Tifosi.

 

Whilst it’s too soon to make any predictions ahead of the fourth round on a record-breaking 23 race calendar and with the team’s development war set to intensify, the near-perfect start to the campaign for Leclerc and Ferrari has set him up as the early favourite, particularly due to the recent struggles of his expected closest arch-rivals.

 

Leclerc’s nearest challenger is Mercedes’s Russell, with last year’s championship rivals Sir Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fifth and sixth in the Driver’s Standings respectively with both pace and reliability issues plaguing them.

 

Leclerc’s talent speaks for itself in his three years for Ferrari, but this could be the first season where he has a car that can consistently keep the Monegasque-youngster contending towards the front, something, which gives him satisfaction.

 

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is the first of two home Grands Prix for the Scuderia this season, with fans – who were unable to attend the 2020 and 21 events – set to come into the famous Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari by the droves for the first time since the 2006 campaign.

 

Leclerc’s rise to the top comes as the driver’s who were expected to lead the charge in the title fight drop down the order.

 

In seven-time world champion Hamilton’s case, Mercedes have fallen well behind Ferrari and Red Bull in terms of pace, however the Silver Arrows hold second in both the World Driver’s and Constructor’s Championship standings after scoring decent results in all three opening rounds.

 

Struggling with balance and porpoising issues, Mercedes say there is no overnight miracle to fix the W13 and there is no major upgrade for the start of the European season, despite Hamilton’s hopes. Still the Briton is rallying on his team and ensuring that the hunger is still there to push hard.

 

For Verstappen, speed is not the issue for the Dutchman, finishing the races is.

 

Whilst not close to Leclerc, Verstappen was on course for comfortable second places in Sakhir and Melbourne – which would have complimented his victory at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – before having to retire his Red Bull RB18 entry.

 

On both occasions, Red Bull diagnosed that it was fuel issues, with Team Principal Christian Horner suggesting they were unrelated.

 

Verstappen is well aware of the challenges ahead of get his title-defence back on track.

 

Scuderia Ferrari heads to the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, on top of the World Constructors Championship standings with 104 points, with a 39-point lead over nearest rivals Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team who are second on 65 points, and Oracle Red Bull Racing are a further 49-points behind the Scuderia in third place on 55 points.

 

Click here for the 2022 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top Ten) and Constructors Championship standings.

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F1’s Sprint Format Rules for 2022

 

 

This weekend sees F1’s Sprint Format return for the 2022 campaign, but with a few tweaks including a new points system and new track locations.

 

Following a review about the three sprint events from last season, the sport’s governing body, the FIA, decided to maintain the same number for 2022 despite the radical sweeping new aerodynamic rule changes.

 

The Sprint Format will feature for the first time also at Austria’s Red Bull Ring in July and for the second time at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in Brazil towards the end of the season.

 

The Format itself remains as a 100-kilometre Sprint Race with no mandatory pit-stops and drivers pushing to the limit from start-to-finish.

 

However, this season will see more points being awarded in the F1 Sprint, to the top eight drivers rather than only the previous top three.

 

The driver who wins the Sprint receives a solid eight points, rather than three, with a sliding scale down to one point for an eighth-placed finish. These points will be added to the World Driver’s and Constructors Championship standings.

 

The finishing order for the F1 Sprint will decide Sunday’s grid for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, where the traditional format remains unchanged.

 

Last season, the driver who won the Sprint was awarded the accolade of pole position.

 

However, this campaign will see the driver who sets the quickest time in Friday Qualifying – which on Sprint format weekends takes place on Friday – will be given the honour.

 

The driver who claims pole position on Friday will start the Sprint in first on the grid. The driver who wins the Sprint will start the Grand Prix P1 on the grid.

 

There will be only two practice sessions on Sprint format weekends, giving the ten team’s less time to tweak their cars for qualifying and the Grand Prix.

 

The first will take place on Friday before Qualifying, whilst the second slots in before the Sprint on Saturday.

 

The Formula 1 Rolex Gran Premio Del Made In Italy E Dell’emilia Romagna 2022 race weekend begins with Free Practice 1 and Qualifying Friday April 22, followed by Free Practice 2 and the 100km Sprint Saturday April 23 concluding with the 63-lap race Sunday April 24.