1717 replies to this topic

[Topsu]

I lied. It's not Imola GP. It's the FORMULA 1 ROLEX GRAN PREMIO DEL MADE IN ITALY E DELL'EMILIA-ROMAGNA 2022!

 

CAUTION! This is a Sprint weekend. Qualifying will be on Friday. A 100 km sprint race to be held on Saturday. CAUTION!

 

Circuit

 

Tires: C2, C3, C4

 

Weather

It might rain. First wet race for the ground effect cars? We shall see. Saturday looks the driest.

 

 

What happened last time?

 

This happened in turn 1.

 

Then this happened!

 

More drama

 

In the end, Hamilton and Verstappen found each other again.

 

 

Will Ferrari find glory on home soil? Sainz to redeem himself after terrible Australian trip? Is Red Bull going to finish? Is Mercedes still terribly struggling at P5 and P6? Are the Alpha Tauri upgrades going to produce any surprises? I guess you'll have to watch and see for yourself.

Edited by Topsu, 20 April 2022 - 11:26.

[mmmcurry]

I lied. It's not Imola GP. It's the FORMULA 1 ROLEX GRAN PREMIO DEL MADE IN ITALY E DELL'EMILIA-ROMAGNA 2022!

 

 

Easy for you to say.

[SophieB]

Yes. Yes!  Build up thread is here! Nice one. 

 

Welcome back, Topsu - good to see you are not embittered towards society following your self-imposed exile due to Mercedes not lying about being a bit crap after all!

[RedRabbit]

Ferrari 1-2 comfortably and Bottas to steal his first Alfa Romeo podium.

[SophieB]

Emilia Romagna will always be in my mind a model trying to transition into independent films.

[NickeyF1]

With Friday qualifying very likely to be rain-affected (even if it's a damp-drying track) I can't wait for this weekend to come! Weather for Sunday is still uncertain, but I'd love to see a dry sprint race on Saturday and a rain affected race on Sunday.

[ANF]

I wish it was a normal GP weekend without the sprint nonsense.

[Topsu]

With Friday qualifying very likely to be rain-affected (even if it's a damp-drying track) I can't wait for this weekend to come! Weather for Sunday is still uncertain, but I'd love to see a dry sprint race on Saturday and a rain affected race on Sunday.

Oh my god I didn't even remember that it's a sprint weekend.

[SophieB]

o no, the sprint race thing

[Burtros]

I wish it was a normal GP weekend without the sprint nonsense.

With the weather conditions up in the air it adds a fascinating level of intrigue to this weekend.

It’s fantastic to see them back again this year.

Really looking forward to another proper track hosting a race. I wasn’t aware of how done I was with middle eastern night races in bland shitholes until Oz.

Edited by Burtros, 20 April 2022 - 11:27.

[Sam1]

I love a good sprint this will be a merc win this weekend with the rain

[Astandahl]

 

[absinthedude]

I'd forgotten about the bloody sprint race. I wish the FIA had forgotten too. So now I don't feel at all bad about having booked to see another unrelated event on Saturday afternoon. 

 

Might watch the race though. I always liked Imola back in the day. 

[MKSixer]

Now I have to move a couple of meetings for Friday Qualifying.  Thanks a lot Sprint Race Weekend. 

[TheFish]

Just landed in Bologna. It’s going to be wet over the next couple of days. Possible rain on race day, could be another great weekend.

[SophieB]

Enjoy! Always good to hear from people who are actually at the track!

[Hellenic tifosi]

Imola is definitely NOT a good place for a sprint race weekend, but nevertheless, I 'm so excited that we have this circuit back until 2025!

[Astandahl]

Just landed in Bologna. It’s going to be wet over the next couple of days. Possible rain on race day, could be another great weekend.

Welcome to our city !

[Pete_f1]

I would love to be there. Such a nice place.

Imola in Spring and Monza in autumn. The natural order

[sheSgoTthElooK]

I have a good feeling for this weekend. 

 

Mercedes/Lewis will be strong. 

 

Italy ❤️👌

 

Thank god, it's in free tv this time in my place..

 

 

[Izzyeviel]

Great to see we're back in San Marino! They should really have Dan Marino wave the chequered flag or something. wasted opportunity.

[owenmahamilton]

It's bad enough that it's a sprint race this weekend but are they really sticking with not calling it the San Marino Grand Prix anymore?

[ANF]

I wonder if Mercedes will bother to bring a new floor or whatever they need to make the car stop bouncing. There will only be 60 minutes of practice (minus red flags) before qualifying. Not much time to understand if the new parts work and to do setup work.

[Risil]

Just landed in Bologna. It’s going to be wet over the next couple of days. Possible rain on race day, could be another great weekend.

Have fun! Bologna is such a beautiful city.

[PayasYouRace]

It's bad enough that it's a sprint race this weekend but are they really sticking with not calling it the San Marino Grand Prix anymore?

As much as I liked the San Marino GP name, and it’s what I grew up with, at least the new name actually reflects where the race is held, and not another country a few miles away.

[Risil]

San Marino is fun and evocative but "Emilia Romagna" or "Imola" are fine by me. We could also go back to the 1980s US GP nomenclature and call Monza and Imola the Italian Grand Prix North and Italian Grand Prix South.

[KWSN - DSM]

Qualifying at 17:00??? What the heck is wrong with the world.

[Beri]

San Marino is fun and evocative but "Emilia Romagna" or "Imola" are fine by me. We could also go back to the 1980s US GP nomenclature and call Monza and Imola the Italian Grand Prix North and Italian Grand Prix South.

 
Dont you ever call the Reggio Emilia Romagna the Southern part of Italy. You will be thrown in a kettle of Bolognese sauce..

[ANF]

San Marino is fun and evocative but "Emilia Romagna" or "Imola" are fine by me. We could also go back to the 1980s US GP nomenclature and call Monza and Imola the Italian Grand Prix North and Italian Grand Prix South.

Or maybe Italian GP North and Italian GP Northernmost?

[ExFlagMan]

Looks like the FIA have have made an early start to cracking down on drivers 'bling' - F1 championship leader Leclerc robbed of $320,000 watch (autosport.com)

[bargeboard]

While I'm not specifically a Ferrari fan, I'd love to see them score a 1-2 in Imola. Wouldn't mind seeing Sainz get his first win. Perhaps Alpine looks as good here as they did in Melbourne and we get a 2005 style Alonso performance. 

[midgrid]

I've just noticed that the Variante Alta chicane has been renamed in honour of the late motorbike racer and team owner Fausto Gresini.

[jpm2019]

Can't see anyone else but Ferrari winning. Red Bull needs a clean weekend for confidence and points. I do think they will be pretty close. The car is good they just have trouble unlocking it. Since it's sprint race week I don't expect to much upgrades on cars. Love Imola for the surroundings. So nice to see. 

[Ali623]

Can't see anyone else but Ferrari winning. Red Bull needs a clean weekend for confidence and points. I do think they will be pretty close. The car is good they just have trouble unlocking it. Since it's sprint race week I don't expect to much upgrades on cars. Love Imola for the surroundings. So nice to see. 

 

In normal conditions, I agree, but with a potential wet Friday and Sunday, it could be a shaken up order and a messy race.

[AlexS]

It is a circuit you can see drivers driving in TV. The cameras are in diverse angles so it is much easier to see various braking points.

[Ruusperi]

Qualifying at 17:00??? What the heck is wrong with the world.

It seems this year we have either night racing, twilight racing or racing when the sun is low already. Who decided the timetable, Count Dracula?

I miss when the qualifying took place at 13:00 in proper daylight.

https://youtu.be/xQGZWlbcJkI?t=139

[FLB]

Qualifying at 17:00??? What the heck is wrong with the world.

Well, I imagine they want it at a time when people have finished their work day.

[Calum]

The setting for this circuit is just incredible. I will always fawn over a race track with the trees and grass around it!

The Grand Prix clashes with a football match I have a ticket for. Unfortunate, but I’m comfortable not seeing everything anymore. Clashes are inevitable with the super-long calendar.

Imola will be a big test for the new rules. I hope they deliver.

[Ali623]

Qualifying at 17:00??? What the heck is wrong with the world.

 

Their stupid sprint race schedule means they have to push qualifying as late as possible on Friday to let people finish work and bump up TV viewing figures.

[MKSixer]

Their stupid sprint race schedule means they have to push qualifying as late as possible on Friday to let people finish work and bump up TV viewing figures.

Their tagline should be as follows...

 

Sprint Race Weekends:  Ruining schedules and causing consternation among F1 fans since 2021.

[MKSixer]

Looks like the FIA have have made an early start to cracking down on drivers 'bling' - F1 championship leader Leclerc robbed of $320,000 watch (autosport.com)

They aren't playing about this having employed some of the local, more colorful personnel who have a more-than-casual relationship with law enforcement.  

[Goron3]

Qualifying in the late afternoon makes sense. People have jobs / younger audiences are at school earlier in the day.

[JimmyClark]

Dont you ever call the Reggio Emilia Romagna the Southern part of Italy. You will be thrown in a kettle of Bolognese sauce..

I remember when the local mayor went on a rant a couple of years back about British tourists coming to Bologna and asking for Spaghetti Bolognese, and being surprised that it doesn't exist.

The food is fantastic though. Imola is high on my list, and I always love a good Bologna city break. Though I'd already booked a portuguese holiday for this week (hello from Porto!) and I'm doing Monza this year anyway. Maybe next year...

[Paa]

Qualifying in the late afternoon makes sense. People have jobs / younger audiences are at school earlier in the day.

 

Many people still work at 17:00 or just finishes and still have to travel home.

If they worried about that, they should just keep it on Saturday like it should be.

[IrvTheSwerve]

I know I'm a stuck record on this, but...damn, I hate the whole sprint race thing. Now I have to give up Friday evening, if I can catch it after work...then endure the awful sprint race on Saturday, which will take (for me) a lot of the excitement out of the start of Sunday's GP.

 

And yes, I will watch it because I'm an F1 fan...before someone tells me that no one is forcing me to watch it.

[Hellenic tifosi]

Imo the sprint races should only take places in venues where something could be different from Saturday to Sunday.

For example, Bahrain is the ideal place for this, where you can use the outer circuit in Saturday and the normal one on Sunday.

[KWSN - DSM]

Can't see anyone else but Ferrari winning. Red Bull needs a clean weekend for confidence and points. I do think they will be pretty close. The car is good they just have trouble unlocking it. Since it's sprint race week I don't expect to much upgrades on cars. Love Imola for the surroundings. So nice to see. 

 

Magnussen!!

[Myrvold]

"GRAN PREMIO DEL MADE IN ITALY E DELL'EMILIA-ROMAGNA"

 

I had to google it... Of course this is what it's called.

[Anderis]

Many people still work at 17:00 or just finishes and still have to travel home.

If they worried about that, they should just keep it on Saturday like it should be.

The world doesn't work in "all or nothing" way.

 

17:00 will have higher viewing figures than say 14:00. They're doing the best they can within the framework set up by trying to achieve other goals as well.

[MKSixer]

"GRAN PREMIO DEL MADE IN ITALY E DELL'EMILIA-ROMAGNA"

 

I had to google it... Of course this is what it's called.

Why make it simple when it can be complicated?