10 Interesting Facts About Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix will take place this weekend. The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix live stream from Imola will show us the fourth race of the 2022 F1 season. Ferrari is the early pace-setters this season, with Charles Leclerc having won two of the first three races and finished second in the other. The race coverage starts on the 22nd of April with practice sessions followed by qualifying on the same day. On 23rd April, Practice session 2 will be followed by a sprint race. The big race is on Sunday, April 24. Until the race, Let’s check 10 interesting Facts about Emilia Romagna GP.

10 interesting facts about Emilia Romagna GP

Following the first day of action at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola seems to join this group of the popular circuits. All drivers climbed out of their cars with a big smile after the sole practice session for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

1). Legendary circuit

Today’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix will be the first race at Imola to bear this title, but it will be the 28th race at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari. When it comes to all Formula One races in Italy, it will be the 100th occasion for the sport to visit the country. The circuit hosted the Italian Grand Prix once when it took over this important role from Monza in 1980.

2). Only Contrsturctor championship decider

The Drivers’ Championship has never been decided at Imola. But two Constructors’ Championship titles have been. Williams sealed their first title victory at the circuit in 1980. Meanwhile, Mercedes have crowned champion for a record-breaking seventh consecutive year in 2020.

3). Hosted Grand Prix with Different titles

Imola is one of few circuits to have hosted Grands Prix with different titles. In fact, it became the first to do so in 1981. It Happened when it hosted the first San Marino Grand Prix. In 2020, the re-naming of the event to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix made Imola only the second circuit, after the Nurburgring, to host Grand Prix events with three different titles.

4). A popular venue

The track was inaugurated as a semi-permanent venue in 1953. In April 1953, the first motorcycle race took place, while the first car race took place in June 1954. The track played host to its first Formula One race in 1963 as a non-championship event, won by Jim Clark for Lotus. Imola officially debuted on the Formula One calendar in 1980. The event was won by Nelson Piquet and it was such a success that the sport continued to visit the venue, albeit under the name of the San Marino Grand Prix.

5). Driver lost his FIA license

Yuji Ide lost his FIA super license as a result of a crash with Christijan Albers in the 2006 San Marino Grand Prix.

6). The seven-time champion

 The most successful driver at Imola is Michael Schumacher with seven victories. The great German recorded a win for Benetton while he took his six other Imola wins with Ferrari. Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost both won three times while the British pair of Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill are the only two-time winners at Imola.

7). The most successful teams

Ferrari and Williams are tied on eight victories at Imola. McLaren secured six wins in total in Imola with its latest win recorded by David Coulthard in the 1998 San Marino Grand Prix.

8). Circuit-length

The Imola circuit has a length of 4.909 km which makes it an average track in terms of length on the current calendar. Drivers will need to complete 63 laps in total this afternoon to cover the race distance of 309.276km. There is an offset between the start and finish line, equivalent to 218m.

9). The most successful engine supplier

When it comes to the engine manufacturers, Ferrari and Renault are tied on eight victories, followed by Honda with the Japanese engine supplier having recorded a total of four wins.

10). 1994 San Marino Grand Prix

Formula 1 endured one of its darkest weekends at Imola in 1994. Following a violent crash for Rubens Barrichello in Friday qualifying, in which the Brazilian was lucky to escape without serious injury, Roland Ratzenberger lost his life following a similarly severe accident during Saturday’s qualifying session. The 33-year-old Austrian was only attempting to qualify for the third time in F1 with the Simtek team.

In the Grand Prix, three-time World Champion Ayrton Senna died as a result of a heavy crash at the Tamburello corner. There had been numerous crashes at this corner previously, notably for Nelson Piquet in 1987 and Gerhard Berger in 1989.