2022 Formula One Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

2022 Formula One Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.jpg

Who will win the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix?


  • Total voters
    699
Formula 1 returns to Europe for the 2022 season for the first time, with the field taking on Imola for the Emilia Romagna GP.

Last minute venue changes became common place for Formula 1 in 2020 due to COVID, and this led to the return to a popular circuit in both real life and sim racing, Imola.

This weekend, F1 is back in action at the Italian site for the 2022 Elimia Romagna GP, or Formula 1 Rolex Gran Premio Del Made In Italy E Dell'Emilia-Romagna 2022 as the kids like to say.

Ferrari flawless​

Ferrari and Charles Leclerc's nearly flawless start to the 2022 campaign positions them as the obvious favourite for this weekend. A slight pace advantage, and a significant reliability advantage have put them comfortably ahead of Red Bull what looked to be a two-horse race after Bahrain. Leclerc has amassed an impressive 71 points over three races, with George Russell of Mercedes in second place with just 37 points.

Mercedes being second in the constructor's championship after three races wouldn't have been a bold prediction last year, but an obvious deficit in race pace have left the silver arrows at the mercy of Red Bull's reliability, which to date has worked out favourably for Mercedes.

Hamilton and Verstappen​

Similarly, a prediction in 2021 of Lewis Hamilton being three points ahead of Max Verstappen entering the fourth race of the season wouldn't have shocked many people, but the fact that the points gap separates them in fifth and sixth positions in the driver's standings might have been harder to comprehend.

An exciting mid-field battle full of surprises has emerged so far this season, with McLaren, Alpine, Alfa Romeo, Haas and AlphaTauri all being within 14 points of each other in the championship.

Sprint races​

This is the first F1 Sprint weekend of the year. Friday's sessions include one practice, and qualifying for the sprint race. Saturday will see the drivers take to the grid of the second and final practice session, followed by the sprint race. And finally, on Sunday the race will take place, with the starting order having been determined by the results of the sprint race.

The added race time on Saturday will put even more pressure on the teams who have yet to establish reliability with their 2022 cars. Add to that a weather forecast calling for a mix of sun, cloud and rain, and this should be a very exciting race weekend.

Schedule​

  • Free practice 1 - 22 April | 13:30 - 14:30
  • Qualification - 22 April | 17:00 - 18:00
  • Free practice 2 - 23 April | 12:30 - 13:30
  • Sprint - 23 April | 16:30 - 17:00
  • Race - 24 April | 15:00 - 17:00
What are your predictions for this race? Let us know on Twitter at @RaceDepartment or in the comments below.
About author
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

Comments

That's because the sprint format sucks and we all know it. It pleases nobody except a few who have nothing to do the whole weekend and want to see the cars more on TV.
I want to go back to my earlier comment on the same race distance equating to less race time in the 21st century. Back in Australia the featured support race was the Supercars Championship Melbourne 400. They raced 4 times across the 3 days, for a combined total of 80 racing laps (20 each). Formula 1, the main event, only had 58 racing laps in a single race and was all done within 90 minutes despite two safety cars.

In other words, the big money event was featured less prominently than the undercard, and this is not an isolated incident; last year when F2 had it's 3 race format, that series would race 410+ kilometres over a weekend, when F1 does 305km usually and 405km on sprint weekends.

In this light, the sprint is simply a move designed to make the main event feature more prominently over the full 3 day program. There's even historical precedent for practice to resume after qualifying; that's what the Sunday warm-up used to be, and MotoGP still has warm-up sessions to this day. I wouldn't necessarily mourn the loss of the sprint if cost concerns cause it to get axed, but I do quite enjoy seeing two races instead of one.
 
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You dont need to speak for all of us :). I love the sprint races to be honest. Way better than a boring 3 stages qualification where no points are earned.
Well i was never in favour of the 3 stages qualy. In the old days of the 1 hour session, small teams could get a lot more exposure with the cameras focusing on them for a whole lap, and we could see full laps of the fastest guys. Now its just a mess with a camera just showing the finish line, and the spectators stuck looking at some screen graphics to understand what's going on.
 
Premium
Yes, quite exciting. Good race from Max & Charles.
Though I still think those sprint races are unnecessary, they devaluate the whole GP weekend.

Merc on 11 & 14
86580cded392542b51fe48041237db67.jpg
 
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That was a nice sprint race. Hope to see another great battle between Max and Charles tomorrow!
 
D
  • Deleted member 379375

A) 'Several' world Championships would still have him 'Several' World Championships behind Hamilton.
B) Did the Best Driver & Car win the Imola sprint?
Dam you and your logic and arithmetic
 
Well i was never in favour of the 3 stages qualy. In the old days of the 1 hour session, small teams could get a lot more exposure with the cameras focusing on them for a whole lap, and we could see full laps of the fastest guys. Now its just a mess with a camera just showing the finish line, and the spectators stuck looking at some screen graphics to understand what's going on.
I was thinking the same the other day, but then I remembered that you‘d get 50 minutes of nothing and then a 10 minute mad scramble when all the teams realised that nobody else was going out to rubber the track in for them.

That said, I do dislike the knockout mechanic of the current format. I‘d rather that there was a rule where all teams must complete 2 hot laps within each 20 minute period of the hour and the best lap put down in that hour is the qualifier.
 
I think leclerc will win this one...he ran well in this qualifying he was second but I think he has great chances
 
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I was thinking the same the other day, but then I remembered that you‘d get 50 minutes of nothing and then a 10 minute mad scramble when all the teams realised that nobody else was going out to rubber the track in for them.

That said, I do dislike the knockout mechanic of the current format. I‘d rather that there was a rule where all teams must complete 2 hot laps within each 20 minute period of the hour and the best lap put down in that hour is the qualifier.
I could get behind that format yes, as long as there were big enough windows that allowed us to see individual laps from enough people.
 

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