[Official] Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix: Grand Prix Weekend Thread - Round 4

[Born Racer]

I'm afraid I can't do a preview for this weekend, as I'm travelling. Let's hope it's a good one and the sprint goes down well.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Born Racer

I'm afraid I can't do a preview for this weekend, as I'm travelling. Let's hope it's a good one and the sprint goes down well.

Hopefully you don't feel this stepping on your toes - a shameless re-hash of last year's with a couple of 2022 updates:

Having been introduced as a one-off in 2019, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is now fully established on the F1 calendar with a contract up until 2025. Initially as a late season round, the move to April for 2021 has been replicated for 2022 making this the first European round of the season. This will also be the first sprint race of the season, under the newly revised sprint weekend format for 2022. Formerly bestowed the honorary title of the San Marino Grand Prix, after the nearby small republic, it is now titled the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in its own right. Or in full - The Formula 1 Rolex Gran Premio del Made In Italy e Dell'Emilia-Romagna 2022.

The change of regulations has seen a new pecking order emerge with Ferrari back at the front of the pack and Haas in the upper half of the field. The Italian support for the Italian team will no doubt be very much on display as the Tifosi look to celebrate the dawn of a new glory period.

Mercedes have struggled thus far, but have still managed to sit in second place in both the WDC and WCC due to reliability issues in the Red Bull garage.

The history

In 1963, a non-championship Imola Grand Prix with Formula 1 cars was won by Jim Clark in his Lotus. In the late 70s, plans were afoot for Monza to alternate with Imola for the Italian Grand Prix, and before Imola's championship status was affirmed, the non-championship Dino Ferrari Grand Prix was run in September 1979, a week after Monza. Niki Lauda won for Brabham-Alfa Romeo, mere weeks before quitting the sport for the first time. Carlos Reutemann was 2nd for Lotus and freshly-crowned world champion Jody Scheckter 3rd for Ferrari.

Run at Imola, the 1980 Italian Grand Prix, ended up being the sole race with that designation not to be held at Monza to the present day. Nelson Piquet won in his Brabham ahead of the Williamses of Alan Jones and Carlos Reutemann. Although Piquet took the lead of the drivers' championship, Williams sealed their first constructors' title.

Imola's race stayed on the calendar, although it took the title of the San Marino Grand Prix in 1981. Piquet won again, this time from Riccardo Patrese in an Arrows, while Reutemann was 3rd for Williams. Didier Pironi led in the wet conditions until slipping back down the order, while Gilles Villeneuve made an unwise stop for slicks, which he recovered from to 7th.

In 1982, only seven teams took part, during the FISA-FOCA War, with Brabham, McLaren, Williams and Lotus all boycotting the event. The front row was occupied by the Renaults, but they both went out with engine trouble, leaving the Ferraris of Villeneuve and Pironi 1st and 2nd respectively. Ferrari ordered both cars to slow down, but Pironi did not interpret this order as one not to pass, which he duly did. With Villeneuve thinking his team-mate was just making a bit of a show, when he got passed Pironi again, he expected him to hold station, but he was overtaken into Tosa on the final lap. Villeneuve was so livid he vowed never to speak to Pironi again, which was sadly the case, as he was killed at the next race at Zolder, not on speaking terms. Michele Alboreto was 3rd for Tyrrell. There were six finishers and just five classified, with Manfred Winkelhock disqualified for being underweight.

In 1983, Patrick Tambay won for Ferrari after Brabham's Patrese had passed him with six laps to go, before almost immediately crashing at Acque Minerali. Alain Prost grabbed 2nd for Renault from Ferrari's René Arnoux after the Frenchman spun. Tambay dedicated his victory in the Number 27 car to Villeneuve.

Prost won for McLaren in 1984, with René Arnoux 2nd this time in the Ferrari, and Elio de Angelis coming home 3rd in his Lotus, despite running out of fuel. Fuel economy was a big issue a year later, as various drivers ran dry. Ayrton Senna went out of the lead due to this, and Stefan Johansson, in his first race for Ferrari after replacing the sacked Arnoux, who had climbed to 2nd from 15th on the grid, would have taken the lead but stopped when exiting Acque Minerali. Prost won, but was disqualified for being underweight, so it was de Angelis who was awarded the victory.

A year later, Alain Prost did win, but again, he almost ran out of fuel and just crept over the line, this time not underweight. Piquet was 2nd in the Williams and Gerhard Berger took his first podium in the Benetton-BMW. Keke Rosberg in the McLaren and Riccardo Patrese in the Brabham were both classified 5th and 6th for the final points-paying positions, despite running out of fuel.

In 1987, Piquet had a huge accident at Tamburello in Friday practice and missed the rest of the weekend. His Williams team-mate Nigel Mansell took the win from Ayrton Senna in the Lotus and Ferrari's Michele Alboreto. A year later, McLaren took their first front row grid lockout, and Senna just won from Prost, both again low on fuel, with Piquet 3rd for Lotus.

Gerhard Berger had a fiery accident at Tamburello on Lap 3 in his Ferrari in 1989 and the race was stopped and re-started to run on aggregate times. Senna won from Prost, but Prost was upset that Senna had broken a supposed pre-race agreement to let whoever was in front at Turn 1 go on to win the race. Alessandro Nannini was 3rd for Benetton. In 1990, Riccardo Patrese won in the Williams, having passed the McLaren of Berger, who had earlier collided with Ferrari's Nigel Mansell as he tried to pass him. Patrese took the record for the biggest gap between wins, broken in the 2018 United States Grand Prix by Kimi Raikkonen.

In 1991, Senna won from his McLaren team-mate Berger, while JJ Lehto claimed a podium in the Dallara-Judd. Ferrari's Alain Prost spun off on the formation lap and did not start. A year afterwards, it was Mansell's turn to win from his team-mate, finishing ahead of Patrese in the dominant Williams, with Senna in 3rd.

After getting ahead of Prost at the pit stops, Senna led, but Prost passed both him and Williams team-mate Damon Hill at Tosa, eventually winning from Michael Schumacher's Benetton and Martin Brundle's Ligier. Senna retired with hydraulic problems and Hill with a brake failure.

It has been well-documented elsewhere what occurred in 1994 at Imola, but it suffices to say that the weekend was horrendous from start to finish and both Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna died, while the sport did at least then begin to undergo major changes in a safety drive, which has transformed those aspects of the sport. Michael Schumacher won the race in his Benetton from Nicola Larini in the Ferrari (his only podium) and Mika Hakkinen in the McLaren.

In 1995, Damon Hill won for Williams, with the Ferraris of Jean Alesi and Berger completing the podium and a year later he took the spoils again, this time from Michael Schumacher's Ferrari and Berger's Benetton. Heinz-Harald Frentzen took his first win in 1997, driving for Williams, with Schumacher again 2nd and the other Ferrari of Eddie Irvine in 3rd.

In 1998, David Coulthard led from McLaren team-mate Hakkinen, the Finn retiring with a gearbox failure. Coulthard held off Schumacher and Irvine to win, having to control his pace, due to high oil cooler temperatures after getting debris in a sidepod. The next year, Hakkinen led before crashing out at the Traguardo chicane. Coulthard took over the lead, but Schumacher undercut him at the pit stops and beat the McLaren driver into 2nd place, with Rubens Barrichello 3rd for Stewart. Schumacher got the jump on Hakkinen at the pit stops to win in 2000 too, with Coulthard back in 3rd.

Williams driver Ralf Schumacher jumped into the lead from 3rd in 2001, eventually beating Coulthard for his first win, with Barrichello 3rd for Ferrari. A Ferrari 1-2 followed in 2002, with Schumacher ahead, and Ralf Schumacher 3rd for Williams. The Schumacher brothers raced in 2003, despite the death of their mother that morning. Michael won from Raikkonen in the McLaren and Ferrari team-mate Barrichello. Schumacher won again in 2004, this time from Jenson Button's BAR and Juan Pablo Montoya's Williams.

In 2005, Schumacher chased Fernando Alonso hard for the win, but couldn't beat the Renault driver, finishing just 0.215 seconds behind at the flag. Button was 3rd, but due to the BAR disqualifications, Alex Wurz was later promoted to 3rd for McLaren. Alonso and Schumacher repeated their battle in the final San Marino Grand Prix in 2006, but this time it was Fernando's turn to pursue, ending up 2.096 behind Schumacher at race's end, with Montoya 3rd for McLaren.

In 2020, Lewis Hamilton won from Valtteri Bottas and the Renault of Daniel Ricciardo. The Finn collided with some debris early doors, after leading away from pole. Verstappen passed Hamilton, before eventually getting Bottas. By this point, however, Hamilton had got the jump on both during the pit stops. Verstappen eventually underwent a tyre failure at the Villeneuve Chicane, while George Russell, running in the points with Williams, crashed during the safety car period approaching the end of the race. Ricciardo grabbed the final podium spot when Sergio Pérez pitted for new tyres before the safety car came in.

In 2021, Hamilton and Verstappen went wheel-to-wheel from the first lap. After Verstappen made a better start from third on the grid, Hamilton tried to defend his lead on the outside into the first corner. Verstappen held his ground, Hamilton bounced over the kerbs, breaking a key aerodynamic part off his front wing.
Once racing got properly under way after an early safety car, Verstappen built a five-second lead in just two laps and it appeared Hamilton, hobbled by the loss of downforce from his damaged wing and struggling to warm up his tyres to operating temperature, was already out of it.

But within three laps he had pegged Verstappen, and for the rest of the first stint the gap ebbed and flowed until after about 20 laps, as they approached the pit stops, Hamilton closed in as the track slowly began to dry.

The world champion had the lead down to two seconds when Verstappen pitted for dry-weather tyres on lap 27, Mercedes preferring to stop second because they feared they would lose out more from going first - because of those tyre warm-up problems. It would have been close had it not been for two sticky front wheels at Hamilton's pit stop, and Verstappen's lead was out to five seconds again. But then the Dutchman hit traffic. Hamilton closed in, sensing a chance. He made three seconds in one lap on the 30th tour.

Verstappen's lead was down to two seconds as Hamilton came up behind the Williams of George Russell to lap it. Russell tried to move out of the way at the Tosa hairpin. But it edged Hamilton on to the wet part of the track, and on his slick tyres he went straight on into the gravel. Trying to recover, he made it worse. The car crunched into the barriers as Hamilton tried to coax the rear around, and broke his front wing. Then he couldn't get the car into reverse. It was the best part of a minute before he was back on track, now a lap down. It looked like his race was over, but then his team-mate Valtteri Bottas, having an underwhelming day in the lower reaches of the top 10, crashed with Russell, littering the track with debris and bringing out the red flag. In the break while the track was cleared, Hamilton knew he would be ninth at the restart on a track on which overtaking is notoriously difficult. He crouched down in the pit lane with his head in his hands. Shortly afterwards, he was joined by Mercedes chief strategist James Vowles, who put his arm around him as they walked down the pit lane and gave him a pep talk. Forget about it, Vowles told Hamilton. You can still get on to the podium.
The car repaired, Hamilton went about reclaiming lost ground like a man possessed at the restart. Second place was just reward, even if he knew he had got away with his error.

The trivia

With the departure of Räikkönen, only Fernando Alonso of the current grid competed in the last San Marino Grand Prix in 2006.

Arrows had two of its eight podium finishes here - 2nd for Ricciardo Patrese in 1981 and the same placing for Thierry Boutsen in 1985.

JJ Lehto finished on the podium in the Dallara-Judd in 1991, despite having to pre-qualify.

The Prost / Senna animosity (arguably) started here in 1989. The McLaren drivers agreed before the race that whoever got away best off the line wouldn’t be challenged into the first braking zone at Tosa. Senna got away well and Prost followed. The race was red-flagged following Berger’s crash on lap four, with a restart from the grid. This time Prost got away like a rocket and moved into the lead. He assumed the original agreement with Senna was still intact, only for Senna to sweep alongside on the approach to Tosa to retake the lead. While Dennis then told the world the matter was resolved at the next race in Monaco, quotes Prost claimed were given off the record appeared in French newspaper L’Equipe saying he would no longer “have any business” with Senna, who he called “not honest”. Senna hit back, declaring their relationship “finished”. The war was on.

The track



Other information

Circuit length: 4.909km
Number of laps: 63
Race distance: 309.049km
Race Lap Record: 1:15.484 (Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes - 2020)
First Grand Prix at this circuit: 1980
This weekend will see the teams allocated 12 sets of tyres instead of the usual 13, with the drivers set to be able to call upon the C2 (hard tyre, x2 sets), C3 (medium tyre, x4 sets) and C4 (soft tyre, x6 sets). Along with that, the teams will also be given six sets of green intermediate tyres and three sets of blue full wet tyres.

2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend weather forecast
FRIDAY, APRIL 22 – FP1 AND QUALIFYING WEATHER
Conditions: Weather will be cloudy and wet but expect improvements in the afternoon.
Maximum temperature expected: 16 Celsius
Minimum temperature expected: 13 Celsius
Chance of rain: 80%

SATURDAY, APRIL 23 – FP2 AND SPRINT WEATHER
Conditions: Sunny spells expected.
Maximum temperature expected: 21 Celsius
Minimum temperature expected: 10 Celsius
Chance of rain: 0%

SUNDAY, APRIL 24 – RACE WEATHER
Conditions: Mostly sunny day.
Maximum temperature expected: 23 Celsius
Minimum temperature expected: 14 Celsius
Chance of rain: 0%

Join in the fun with the F1 Predictions Contest and Fantasy F1:

https://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=157072

https://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=156986

[chillibowl]

happy travels BR and thanks for the into CR!

first sprint race of the year...new pecking order this season so this mini race might be more interesting. but on the other hand, the new pecking order has meant regular quali has also been, so far, more interesting.

not yet sure what level of internet rage i should be experiencing!

[Tourer]

Nice intro from the combined team of BR & CR! Good stuff - really looking forward to the first race in Europe this year.

Despite the sad memories that Imola holds, there's no question that it is a challenging circuit and has something special when it comes to atmosphere. Seeing who goes well here, with the vagary of the sprint race thrown into the mix should be a highlight of this weekend.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Excellent collaborative into. One thing though, the race was introduced as a one-off in 2020.


I'm looking forward to the race but I'm still not sure about the sprint race element. Maybe my mind will be changed but I doubt it.

In anticipation of the GP itself, will Ferrari continue to show their form? A home victory would be sweet. Can RBR put their DNF woes behind them and will Mercedes find their form?

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

One thing though, the race was introduced as a one-off in 2020.

Darn - you're right of course. We know at least one person pays attention to the race intro's though.


BR - - you would never have made such an error.

[crmalcolm]

FP1 - wet:

[S griffin]

That's a turn up for the books, it may affect things in qualifying, especially if it dries out

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by S griffin

That's a turn up for the books, it may affect things in qualifying, especially if it dries out

I refer you to the preview text:

FRIDAY, APRIL 22 – FP1 AND QUALIFYING WEATHER
Conditions: Weather will be cloudy and wet but expect improvements in the afternoon.
Maximum temperature expected: 16 Celsius
Minimum temperature expected: 13 Celsius
Chance of rain: 80%

It was forecast - but as you say it could be a drying track for the qualifying session.
Do you go out last to try and get the best conditions - but with that risk a red flag on your flyer?

[BertMk2]

Well that was a weird session - the gap in times from one end of the field to the other is huge - over 10 seconds! Hamilton down in 18th, Haas 4th and 5th.

[Beau2]

Bit of a shocker again from Sainz in Qualifying. This fight between the Ferrari drivers looks like it might be over before it's even started.

Mercedes having another shocking day. Hamilton lucky to get through Q1. Both out in Q2 after Sainz' crash.

[Tourer]

Add some water and Q sessions can get pretty crazy. Going to be very different conditions for Saturday and Sunday though, so the form book could end up anywhere. In particular, the local team (Alpha Tauri) were nowhere near where you'd expect them to be today - maybe they've set the cars up for Saturday and Sunday and just couldn't make them work in the wet?

Same could apply to others - is shaping up to be a fairly unpredictable weekend - which is a good thing.

[S griffin]

Both Mercs not making it through to Q3 for the first time in 10 years. Magnussen though what a recovery from his spin to give Haas their best place ever in qualifying. Both he and the car are flying atm. And to think he wasn't even supposed to be in that car this year...

Shame for Sainz, that's another mistake he's made. Hope he doesn't make a habit of it. No surprise to see Max and Charles on the front row. Good to see Norris in the McLaren up there too.

[chunterer]

The red flags interrupted a lot of momentum.
Likely the grid would have changed a fair bit had there been some clear running, it was damper but it may have been one of those where last man across the line before the chequer squeezed an extra few 10ths and a few more grid slots with it.

[tux]

Might be an unpopular opinion but i dont see the point of this Saturday practice session considering cars cannot make setup changes.

[Sodemo]

Originally Posted by tux

Might be an unpopular opinion but i dont see the point of this Saturday practice session considering cars cannot make setup changes.

I dont see a lot of point in a lot of the parc ferme regulations. I must admit I am not totally up to speed on the rules, but I presume they can still not change setup from qualifying onwards? Totally dont see the point. I can understand if it was purely to stop things like teams bolting new bits like new gearboxes and engines, but allowing teams to change anti-roll settings or spring rates, dampers etc, dont see the problem in allowing that.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Clean start with Leclerc taking the lead.

[bjohnsonsmith]

1st FCY as Zhou Guanyu goes off.

[chillibowl]

Sainz non DRS pass on Alonso through Tamburello...stunning!

[chillibowl]

that graphic highlighting Ric, his name and speed, and now on Mag's car is nice imo. maybe a bit basic but i like it.

[bjohnsonsmith]

That was a good move by Super Max to take the lead.

[chillibowl]

good and clean...i like this Max!

[bjohnsonsmith]

First blood to Max.

[chillibowl]

entertaining sprint!

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by tux

Might be an unpopular opinion but i dont see the point of this Saturday practice session considering cars cannot make setup changes.

There's still plenty of point - even if teams can only make limited changes, they can still do and learn a lot with things like tyre pressures and smaller wing adjustments, changes in arb and brake bias from corner to corner, refine gear sync and a bunch of things along those lines. Given the change in the weather conditions this weekend, FP2 became really important to assess the cars in dry conditions. Entertaining for us, not really but then practice sessions rarely are but the teams would see a lot of point in still having those sessions.

Originally Posted by chillibowl

entertaining sprint!

Loved it - was really good stuff. To me added to the weekend this time and sets up a "full on" GP with Ferrari and RB now each having both cars up the front and able to impact on strategy.