News24.com | Buon giorno, Imola! F1 heads to Ferrari's backyard as Verstappen seeks more glory

Max Verstappen during the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

• The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix takes place at the Imola circuit in Italy this coming weekend.
• The circuit made its Formula 1 debut in 1980, with the race taking place under three names - the best-known being the San Marino GP.
• Imola returned to F1 in 2020 after a 14-year absence.

It's the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix this weekend and Formula 1 is gearing up for another epic showdown in Italy.

The Imola circuit, or the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, its formal name since 1988, has been on the F1 calendar since 1980, falling away in 2006 until its return in 2020. But Imola would have an F1 involvement since 1963, having hosted a non-championship race in 1963.

But in the decade preceding '63, several racing events had occurred here since 1953.

Though 27 F1 Grands Prix had taken place at Imola between 1980 and 2006, the circuit was embattled in some light political bickering with another circuit in the country, Monza, over the 'Italian Grand Prix' nomenclature. The two venues eventually settled, with Monza getting the nod and Imola being renamed 'San Marino'.

Upon the circuit's F1 re-entry in 2020, it was now called the Emilia Romagna GP. In total, Imola has hosted 30 F1 GPs.

The numbers

In 1980, Monza agreed that the Italian Grand Prix would take place at Imola, with normal services resuming the following year. As such, Imola hosted 27 F1 races between 1980 and 2006, but the San Marino GP took place 26 times.

Of the times racing under the San Marino banner, Michael Schumacher claimed victory on seven occasions, the first coming at the 1994 event where Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger lost their lives. His other six wins came between 1999 and 2006, bar 2001 and 2005.

Regarding the team with the most wins, the number is shared between Ferrari and Williams, with eight apiece.

When the circuit returned in 2020 under its new name, Lewis Hamilton took the inaugural victory, but the next two would go to Max Verstappen. Still, Hamilton holds the race lap record of 1:15.484 set in 2020. Verstappen is on strong form, and could register another win around Imola and perhaps even make the lap record his.

The (slightly) revised circuit is 4.909km long and runs over 63 laps for a total race distance of 309.049km. The speed trap is just in front of the braking zone coming out of Turn 16, with the sole DRS zone situated between the exit of Turn 19 and Turn 2.