Formula 1 makes its first visit to Imola in two years for the 2024 Emilia Romagna GP, so F1 Oversteer has looked at what teams fare well at the home track of Scuderia Ferrari.
Imola, which is officially named the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, is located just 50 miles from Maranello. It also boasts a fabled place in the history of Formula 1 as the circuit for the 1980 Italian GP and 26 runnings of the San Marino GP between 1981 to 2006.
F1 left Imola in line with Ferrari legend Michael Schumacher retiring for the first time at the end of 2006. But the pinnacle of motorsport’s search for additional events during the Covid-disrupted 2020 season saw the series return for the first running of the Emilia Romagna GP.
Mercedes won the first Emilia Romagna GP with Lewis Hamilton in 2020
Lewis Hamilton won the first running of the Emilia Romagna GP with Mercedes in 2020. The race marked round 13 of 17 that season, and laid the foundations for Hamilton to draw level with Schumacher as a seven-time drivers’ champion at the 2020 Turkish GP two weeks later.
The Stevenage-born star took the chequered flag in first place at Imola with a 5.783-second lead over his then-teammate, Valtteri Bottas. A full safety car period when Max Verstappen suffered a tyre blowout into the Villeneuve chicane and retired bunched the field back up.
READ MORE: 5 unforgettable Emilia Romagna GP moments with Russell and Bottas’ crash
Bottas had led the 2020 Emilia Romagna GP from pole position in front of Verstappen, who shot past Hamilton at the start. But a VSC period handed Hamilton a cheap pit stop and the lead on Lap 30 of 63. Bottas was unable to threaten his Silver Arrows stablemate thereafter.
Red Bull are the most successful F1 team at the Emilia Romagna GP
Yet Mercedes have not won at Imola since the first Emilia Romagna GP in 2020. Instead, Red Bull are the most successful Formula 1 team through the brief history of the Emilia Romagna GP. Verstappen put Red Bull on the top step of the Imola podium in 2021 and again in 2022.
F1 did not visit Imola in 2023 after cancelling the Emilia Romagna GP amid heavy flooding in the region. Verstappen will now strive to make it a hat-trick of wins at Imola for himself and Red Bull by strengthening their standing as the best team at the Emilia Romagna GP in 2024.
The team from Milton Keynes remain some way shy of matching Ferrari and Williams as the most successful F1 teams at Imola of all time, though. The Maranello and Grove outfits both won eight editions of the San Marino GP at Imola, where McLaren also secured six victories.
Honda is the most successful engine manufacturer at the Emilia Romagna GP
Red Bull winning the Emilia Romagna GP in 2021 and 2022 also made Honda the race’s most successful engine manufacturer. The Japanese automotive giants made the V6 turbo-hybrid power units that drove Verstappen to the top step of the podium at Imola in both meetings.
Only Mercedes power units have so far also won the Emilia Romagna GP since F1 returned to Imola in 2020. Hamilton gave the Silver Arrows their engine’s only win at the race on F1’s first visit back to the historic home of the San Marino GP during the Covid-interrupted 2020 year.
The San Marino GP saw several F1 engine manufacturers win races at Imola from 1981 until 2006. Ferrari and Renault were the most dominant engine manufacturers at the San Marino GP with eight wins a piece. Honda even enjoyed four wins, while TAG and Ford secured two.
The post What F1 teams do well at Emilia Romagna GP with Mercedes and Red Bull successful at Imola appeared first on F1 Oversteer.