Following the break, Formula One is ready to return with the Imola Grand Prix. Special stage, being home ground for Ferrari, for AlphaTauri, but also for Pirelli which, in view of the great event at the Enzo and Dino Ferrari racetrack, will present itself with the set of C2-C3-C4 tyres. Let's find out everything in detail.
THE TIRES ON THE TRACK
- Formula 1 returns to Imola, the first (the other is Monza) of the two home races for Pirelli. For the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, the C2, C3 and C4 compounds have been nominated, which will be respectively the P Zero White hard, the P Zero Yellow medium and the P Zero Red soft. Same nomination as last year, even if the 18-inch compounds are obviously different.
- The tires are completely new, but the Imola track is unchanged from last season: old school style and narrow. The asphalt dates back to 2011 so the surface is quite abrasive. That's why here the jump in compound between medium and soft, adopted for Australia a couple of weeks ago, is not practicable: the more mature surface of Imola generates more grip and therefore more heat in the tires and for this a soft compound is needed more robust.
- The lateral and longitudinal forces on the tires are similar to each other and this is a smooth track where the drivers need to find a good rhythm. It is particularly important to have good traction out of the final Rivazza corner in order to tackle the long starting straight before the heavy braking preceding the first corner which offers an excellent overtaking opportunity.
- The first Sprint of the year will take place in Imola. The rules have been slightly revised compared to last season and now there are even more points up for grabs. First of all, from this year pole position will be attributed to the fastest driver in the Friday qualifying session who will also be the winner of the Pirelli Pole Position Award. The tire rules are the same as last year's sprint racing events: instead of having 13 sets of tires like on weekends without sprints, there will only be 12 sets. Of these two sets of P Zero White hard, four of P Zero Yellow medium and six of P Zero Red soft. In addition, the teams will have up to six sets of intermediate Cinturato Green and three sets of full wet Cinturato Blue in case of rain.
Isola: "Imola stage different from the others"
We could not miss the words of Mario Isola to present the event: “Imola is an old-fashioned and demanding track, overtaking can be difficult also because the circuit is quite narrow in some points. So a strategy designed to avoid traffic is likely. The teams here are starting from scratch in terms of tire knowledge both because the compounds are completely different this year and because the 2021 race was run on wet tires before the long red flag interruption. In general, Imola is a moderately demanding track for the tyres, and it is also used quite often. This means that we could see a slightly lower evolution of the track than that which occurs on other circuits, given that it is already well rubberized right away: in fact, last month the first round of the GT World was held at Imola Challenge, of which Pirelli is the exclusive supplier, which offered us the opportunity to collect various useful data. These are just some of the factors that the teams will have to take into account when choosing tires for the first Sprint race of the year”.
SOURCE: Pirelli F1 Media
