Imola Circuit

This has been a weekend of great champions with two stunning performances in the London Marathon. Arsenal and Chelsea blowing away their lessers and Tiger Woods mastering Augusta as did Shumacher here. The brilliant driver picked up his forth win here for a 14 point lead on Ferraris other home track and has begun to stretch the lead in his brand new car. It was a record number of drives in any scarlet car over the companys prestigious history befitting to the best flyer they have ever had. Barrichellos second under orders, who was clearly the faster guy at the weekend, and had his car commandeered from him by the world champion after the Brazilians exciting ...  Read the complete review

The Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari to give Imola it's official name is located in the tiny principality of San Marino in the north east of Italy. To be fair this really is the second Italian Grand Prix of the season, the main event being hosted at Monza. So the tifosi (Ferrari fans) are even more in evidence here than at the other races and Ferrari always try especially hard at the venue. The track itself has been sanitised in the name of safety since the tragedy of 1994 when two drivers were killed. Ayrton Senna died when his car left the track at the 170mph Tamburello corner and ploughed into an armco barrier. Roland Ratzenburger died ...  Read the complete review

As always with my F1 opinions I’ll be identifying three drivers that are heroes and three that are villains as well as a hero team and a villain team. I’ll also be giving my general opinion on the race itself. * The Results – Mixed Fortunes for most people* It was a day of mixed fortunes for most of the teams as few of them brought both cars home. Engine failure was a popular way to go out of the race, certainly more than there has been so far this season yet this wasn’t the first track to push the engines, Brazil has it’s ‘pedal meet floor’ moments. Coincidence? Probably. But what’s this, a non ...  Read the complete review

The total population of the country of San Marino is only about 25,000, so why does it get a Grand Prix? Well, it can only be because of Ferrari and the obsession that their fans have with F1 racing, that gets Italy two races every year. Imola is of course not in San Marino, as the whole country is only 24 square miles they would probably have difficulty even finding space for a race track in the mountainous countryside. Imola is about 50 miles from San Marino in Italy, about 20 miles from Bologna. The circuit has existed for about 50 years and has a number of names in it’s history and is now known as “Autodromo Enzo and Dino Ferrari”. ...  Read the complete review

The home of the San Marino Grand Prix, the Enzo e Dino Ferrari Circuit is a traditional race track, long straights and fast corners. The 3.04 mile circuit has been slowed recently though, with the addition of chicanes after the tragic deaths of both Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger in one very sad weekend. The opening chicanes divide up long sections of tracks, and next there is also a tight hairpin bend, Tosa, for the drivers to contend with. A tight twisty section featuring the famous Piratella and Acque Minerale corners comes after the opening straights, followed by another chicane and a long run down to Rivazza. Anothe straight followed by the tight ...  Read the complete review