Todays Race (Imola Circuit)

Member Name: DavidJWest

Product:	Imola Circuit
Date:	14/04/02 (90 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Historic, Gradients, Variety

Disadvantages: Hard to pass, Sanitised, Narrow

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 on the previous day in practise. One poignant story about this tragedy is that rumour has it marshalls found an Austrian flag in Senna's cockpit which he planned to unfurl on the podium in honour of the Austrian Ratzenburger.

Imola is a narrow track which has some fsat straights but also very slow sections, it favours a car which has good all round abilities and Ferrari are massive favourites to win the event this time around. The circuit often experiences very unpredictable weather conditions and tends to favour a two pit-stop strategy.

From the start-finish straight you head into the country, there are lots of trees around this section and the cars reach 185 mph before braking hard for the new Tamburello chicane. It is possible to overtake into this corner, Juan Pablo Montoya got around the outside of Jarno Trulli here last season but the manoevre was not repeated by many other drivers.

From this 100mph sector, the drivers accellerate back to 180mph before another chicane, Villeneuve. The entre is awesome, a sharp left turn which is taken almost flat out before hard braking for the right turn which heads towards the tightest corner on the track Tosa.

This used to be the best overtaking opportunity as the old track was simply a blast down from the startlin
e before braking for the turn but nowadays it is not the case.

Tosa is a slow 60mph sharp left almost a hairpin. Imola is unusual amongst F1 tracks that it runs anti-clockwise (Interlagos in Brazil is the only other track which does this). The drivers get very stiff necks as they are not used to the excessive G forces which act on them from their "weaker" sides.

There is an uphill drag from Tosa before the drivers reach a long sweeping left at the top of the hill, the Piratella. Braking from 170 mph to around 130 mph this corner is easy to misjudge and drivers run wide sometimes.

Plunging downhill comes the Aque Minerale sction next, another part of the course which has been redesigned recently. It used to be a slow chicane but is now a two corner complex, a fast right leading to a slower right taken at 80 mph or so. This is a really tough corner to judge as it turns right and climbs quite steeply it is easy to lose the back end of the car.

Heading uphill the drivers reach 160mph before braking for another chicane, the Variant Alta which is a quick right left flick where the drivers jump over the kerbs to try to straighten the corner out.

Again a quikc section, perhaps the top speeds may reach 190mph on the run down to the two Rivazza left handers, both about 90 degree turns. It is hard to judge the first Rivazza as the braking zone is downhill, which also puts off drivers thinking of overtaking here.

The second Rivazza is very similar to the first but easier as the braking zone is flat and speeds entering the area are slower.

Finally a quick run to the final chicane, where Mika Hakkinen famously crashed in 2000 before the run to the finish. A good lap in race trim will take around 1m 24 seconds.

Overall I like the track despite it being so hard to oevertake, it has quite a lot of different corners. In my opinion they overracted when Senna died, I would like to of seen the Tamb
urello reprofiled instead of making it into a chicane. They could of made it less sharp with a bigger run-off to make it safer and the new Villenueve chicane ruins the best overtaking chance into Tosa. I'd like to see it widened as well, then we may see more overtaking.

For this years race watch out for Rubens Barrichello who may want to race Michael and go for a light fuel load. Also Juan Pablo Montoya may produce some fireworks, but I suspect that Ferrari will be unstoppable at this track, which should suit them well.

The new Ferrari (F2002) seems to be super quick out of slow corners, which Imola has plenty of. The Williams main strnegth is it's top speed which Imola's straights are not quite long enough for the BMW grunt to exploit fully. The best chance for a battle up front is a flying start from either Williams driver or a light fuel load. Strategy will be vital for this race.

The weather will be important too, if it's wet, then put your house on Michael Schumacher. If it does rain then Fisichella will be worth watching, he was brilliant in wet practise on Friday.

A quick plug, I am writing a review of the season which I will update after each race in case any fans of F1 want to read that.

My Prediction

1. M Schumacher
2. R Barrichello
3. J P Montoya
4. R Schumacher
5. K Raikonnen
6. D Coulthard

I am assuming reliability and no crashes, big assumption!

Summary: