2024 Formula One Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

F1-Imola-Preview-Miami-Podium-Lando-Norris.jpg
Image: Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

WHO ARE YOU SUPPORTING THIS WEEKEND?

  • Total voters
    104
  • Poll closed .
After a somewhat surprisingly intense Miami Grand Prix, Formula One returns to Imola for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Lando Norris getting the best of Max Verstappen and Red Bull has been all the buzz since Miami, but can Mclaren's pace seep into Italy at this weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix? However, the British team's return to the top step of the podium is just one of many storylines in the lead-up to the race at the famous Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

20240421_123638.jpg

Imola, Variente Villenueve

Alex Albon Commits To Williams ​

One of the headline stories coming out of the F1 paddock before this weekend's Grand Prix is that Alex Albon has extended his contract at Williams. The exact number of seasons is currently unknown, however, a 'Multi-year' deal solidifies the Thai driver's presence on the F1 grid for the near future.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1790668735226741002

With the announcement of his contract extension, Albon has squashed the rumour that he will fill the now-vacant Mercedes seat left by Lewis Hamilton for 2025.

James Vowles, Williams Team Principal said: "We are delighted to secure Alex's long-term future with Williams Racing. He has exceptional talent, technical input and dedication to the cause and this is a huge vote of confidence in Williams and the journey back to competitiveness that we are on."

Mercedes' Upgrade Issues​

Just before the Miami Grand Prix weekend, Mercedes launched its first step towards boosting their cars up to the front of the grid once again. However, this first step in their two-step process was fairly unsuccessful. Heading into Imola this weekend, the Silver Arrows need to work out what blunted their progress in Miami.

Miami Desktop Wallpaper 3.jpg

George Russell, Miami 2024. Image Credit: Mercedes AMG F1

Contrary to the results, Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin further explained that the parts performed as expected in Miami:

"We managed to pull forward about half of our update kit to Miami and then the other half is going to arrive in Imola, and we are working hard on the future races to try and bring developments to them as well."

Can Mclaren Capitalise?​

History was made in Miami as Lando Norris took his maiden Grand Prix victory. Nonetheless, Verstappen still has a considerable 33-point lead in the drivers’ championship over his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Pérez, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in third following another podium for the Monégasque in Miami.

Heading to Imola, the papaya squad will be looking to carry their momentum onwards and upwards. Could Norris really challenge Verstappen and Red Bull at the front? Could Piastri be in the picture to stifle the Red Bulls further?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1788290009025360261

Adrian Newey's Future​

Adrian Newey does not rule out joining another F1 team after he leaves Red Bull next year. The 65-year-old engineering staple is set to depart the team at the end of this season. But retirement is not beckoning to him just yet.

Newey admitted he is “seriously considering changing teams, going somewhere else and doing another four or five years.” But what we want to know is who he will go to. Ferrari? Mercedes? Aston Martin? Let us know where you think Newey will end up come 2025.

SI202405051188_hires_jpeg_24bit_rgb.jpg

Adrian Newey, Miami 2024. Image Credit: Red Bull / Getty Images

​

2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Schedule​


(All times UTC)
Friday 17 May
  • Free practice 1: 11:30
  • Free practice 2: 15:00
Saturday 18 May
  • Free practice 3: 10:30
  • Qualifying: 14:00
Sunday 19 May
  • Race: 15:00

Let us know who you will be supporting with our poll above or down in the comments below! Remember to check us out on X @OverTake.gg.
About author
Connor Minniss
Connor Minniss
Website Content Editor & Motorsport Photographer aiming to bring you the best of the best within the world of sim racing.

More in F1 & Motorsport

Comments

BillyBobSenna
Premium
With how dominant Red Bull has been for 2 years, I am skeptical the competition is really as close as they were today. I hope I am wrong.
 
K
Well all in all a good race, congrats to max, red bull were most likely not the fastest car today, and happy to see lando so close, great to have mclaren competitive and also ferrari was really close!!
 
muzikant
BillyBobSenna said:
With how dominant Red Bull has been for 2 years, I am skeptical the competition is really as close as they were today. I hope I am wrong.
Click to expand...
We will see in the coming races but I don't see any games at RB Max has to fight for it. Look at Perez today...
 
D
Ferrari's updates were close, but not enough(at least at tracks similar to Imola). Mclaren is near equal to Red Bull, essentially it will come down to qualifying and tire management. And that means Max will win the bulk of the rest of the season.
 
Pete Conway
Premium
Very exciting last few laps, though I still can't help thinking that these cars are more 'extremely heavy guided computers' than race cars, the DRS is needed to pass as there isn't time to catch up on normal tracks without massive extra speed, the cars are indecently quick through the corners and create a wake of disturbed air preventing other cars following closely and in turn that speed through the corner effectively shortens the straight even further, this is why the 'boring' Tilka tracks adorn most of the calendar, it feels like F1 is a dragon that is slowly eating itself out of racing, with Traditional tracks offering a high speed parade.

So while the race came alive in the end it could have been much much better if the cars were slower through the corners, didn't have engine management in place of traction control, and a myriad of buttons for these Athletes (and... when did drivers become athletes instead of plain ol' Racing Drivers?) to sort out braking balance and tyre temp and electric feedback and tons of other distracting stuff.
I'm not saying these guys ain't good, they're fantastic multitaskers with a precision second to none, but even Gasley admitted when he drove Senna's Tolman it was 'pure' driving, paying 100% attention to line and speed, with just three pedals, a wheel and a gearstick.
 
Turk
Pete Conway said:
I'm not saying these guys ain't good, they're fantastic multitaskers with a precision second to none, but even Gasley admitted when he drove Senna's Tolman it was 'pure' driving, paying 100% attention to line and speed, with just three pedals, a wheel and a gearstick.
Click to expand...
This isn't really a formula 1 problem though, it's a modern world problem. Technology is what it is, it gets better every day and these teams will always try to find a technological solution.

If F1 wants to be the fastest motorsport then it needs to stay at the forefront of technology.

There are other series for basic racing with restricted cars. F1 will never be that, and if it ever gets close it won't be F1. F1 is an engineering competition as much as a racing competition. That's what you always have to be aware of, if the engineers win the engineering competition then the drivers are at a loss.
 
muzikant
Pete Conway said:
Very exciting last few laps, though I still can't help thinking that these cars are more 'extremely heavy guided computers' than race cars, the DRS is needed to pass as there isn't time to catch up on normal tracks without massive extra speed, the cars are indecently quick through the corners and create a wake of disturbed air preventing other cars following closely and in turn that speed through the corner effectively shortens the straight even further, this is why the 'boring' Tilka tracks adorn most of the calendar, it feels like F1 is a dragon that is slowly eating itself out of racing, with Traditional tracks offering a high speed parade.

So while the race came alive in the end it could have been much much better if the cars were slower through the corners, didn't have engine management in place of traction control, and a myriad of buttons for these Athletes (and... when did drivers become athletes instead of plain ol' Racing Drivers?) to sort out braking balance and tyre temp and electric feedback and tons of other distracting stuff.
I'm not saying these guys ain't good, they're fantastic multitaskers with a precision second to none, but even Gasley admitted when he drove Senna's Tolman it was 'pure' driving, paying 100% attention to line and speed, with just three pedals, a wheel and a gearstick.
Click to expand...
I understand what you're saying, but how would even Senna feel in Jim Clark's car without aerodynamics... And yes, I personally prefer the racing periods from the 50s/60s

one is not easier than the other, now the cars turn much faster and the media pressure is intense, add to that the fact that there are few real pay drivers... but pure talent from formula 3 and formula 2
 
Last edited:
Richard Wilks
Turk said:
This isn't really a formula 1 problem though, it's a modern world problem. Technology is what it is, it gets better every day and these teams will always try to find a technological solution.

If F1 wants to be the fastest motorsport then it needs to stay at the forefront of technology.

There are other series for basic racing with restricted cars. F1 will never be that, and if it ever gets close it won't be F1. F1 is an engineering competition as much as a racing competition. That's what you always have to be aware of, if the engineers win the engineering competition then the drivers are at a loss.
Click to expand...
F1 doesnt need to be at the forefront of anything. F1 is a sport, not a tech demo. They could ban all the electronics tomorrow, cut the downforce to half, cut 300kgs out of the minimum weight, and they would still be "the fastest motorsport".
 
Last edited:
Turk
Richard Wilks said:
F1 doesnt need to be at the forefront of anything. F1 is a sport, not a tech demo. They could ban all the electronics tomorrow, cut the downforce to half, cut 300kgs out of the minimum weight, and they would still be "the fastest motorsport".
Click to expand...
F1 is, and always has been an inherently unfair "sport", that's always been the nature of it. Like I said before, if you don't like the F1 system there are plenty of other series that do it differently. I don't see why we'd change F1 to be like all the other series?

They could do all the cuts you mentioned and engineers would just work on something else. Its not like the rule makers haven't been doing this kind of thing for decades.

They simply can't ban all the electronics anymore. Modern engines won't work without them. Your on about making cars from the 1980s which no manufacturer is going to have any interest in.
 
P
Turk said:
They simply can't ban all the electronics anymore. Modern engines won't work without them. Your on about making cars from the 1980s which no manufacturer is going to have any interest in.
Click to expand...
No need to cut them all, just removing driver access from most settings and having to deal the whole race with a single setup would go a long way.

Problem is, F1 has had an identity crisis for many years now, and has still not stamped out clearly what they truly want to be.
 
Pete Conway
Premium
Let's not divide ourselves too much here, F1 is painting itself into a corner and only the rule makers can do anything about it, the regs are becoming ever more stringent and soon it'll be a spec series in all but name, it does need to change, but while the sales of viewers privileges is on the agenda nothing much is gonna derail it, keep tweaking it and keep offering more ways of viewing and the punters will just keep buying it.

As for the old argument about it's always been etc etc, it hasn't, in the early days a driver could build his own car, in the early days a driver could buy a last years' car, in the early days a team could field more than two cars, in the early days there was often more than 20 cars on the grid, hell, in the 80's sometimes 40 cars would turn up looking for a place on the grid.

Ferrari made cars to finance his racing, now teams race to promote their sales
The money stepped in when Colin Chapman approached John Player 'Gold leaf' and painted the car to represent a cigarette pack, with the money came investment opportunities and even bigger money, rules have been changed because the almost unlimited budget would have seen far greater speeds without them, and moving forward as the dominance of one team after another is annoying to the supporters of the 'other' team, rules continued to flip to keep punters happy.
I also understand that you cannot unlearn something... it can only be ruled out by regulation.
 
Richard Wilks
Turk said:
F1 is, and always has been an inherently unfair "sport", that's always been the nature of it. Like I said before, if you don't like the F1 system there are plenty of other series that do it differently. I don't see why we'd change F1 to be like all the other series?

They could do all the cuts you mentioned and engineers would just work on something else. Its not like the rule makers haven't been doing this kind of thing for decades.

They simply can't ban all the electronics anymore. Modern engines won't work without them. Your on about making cars from the 1980s which no manufacturer is going to have any interest in.
Click to expand...
So tell me, why don't F1 cars have active suspensions? CVT gearboxes? Active aero? ABS and TC? 4 wheel steering? 4 wheel drive? Vector steering?

Or even more silly, why do they race with uncovered wheels? Its terrible for aerodynamics, and even dangerous.

F1 is a hightly restricted class already. More restrictions doesnt "change" what F1 is.
 
Turk
Richard Wilks said:
So tell me, why don't F1 cars have active suspensions? CVT gearboxes? Active aero? ABS and TC? 4 wheel steering? 4 wheel drive? Vector steering?

Or even more silly, why do they race with uncovered wheels? Its terrible for aerodynamics, and even dangerous.

F1 is a hightly restricted class already. More restrictions doesnt "change" what F1 is.
Click to expand...
They did do all those things, but any time one team finds an advantage, especially one that other teams can't afford they change the rules.

That's what you'd expect from a race series on the cutting edge though. I guess it depends on how much we value the progress in F1 engineering.
 
Pete Conway
Premium
davehenrie said:
I grew up in the Era of Can-Am, a truly unlimited form of racing. Modern F1 is so tightly constricted in a box, it might as well be a spec series.
Click to expand...
Many of the GP greats actually drove the Can Am machines in their heyday, the wages were superb, the thrill superb, the noise superb, the competition sup... oh, OK it was Lola, then McLaren, then Porsche for a couple of years then finally Shadow then stopped and limited to 5 liters on return with a good bunch of F5000 machines shoehorned in.
But in unlimited 66-74 era it was perhaps the most brutal and exciting race series ever... truly legendary
 
Richard Wilks
Turk said:
They did do all those things, but any time one team finds an advantage, especially one that other teams can't afford they change the rules.

That's what you'd expect from a race series on the cutting edge though. I guess it depends on how much we value the progress in F1 engineering.
Click to expand...
We don't, because aparently the FIA and the teams don't either, except if its pointless exercises in expensive wind tunnels that have no bearing in real life, everything else is banned, or turned spec.
 
markg88
Premium
The essential issue I have with F1 is that the driver is not the star as much as he should be because of the engineers coaching drivers based on computer models and dynamic data. The drivers are 'operators' of the technology available. Apart from significantly reducing the cars' weight and downforce I don't know how we can get back to the driver being more important, maybe not to the degree of bike racing, but more than is current. Having said all that, it's as obvious as something obvious that Max is the best out there :)
 

Latest News

Article information

Author
Connor Minniss
Article read time
3 min read
Views
3,581
Comments
39
Last update

Share this article

What is the reason for your passion for sim racing?

  • Watching real motorsport

    Votes: 505 68.5%

  • Physics and mechanics

    Votes: 311 42.2%

  • Competition and adrenaline

    Votes: 333 45.2%

  • Practice for real racing

    Votes: 164 22.3%

  • Community and simracers

    Votes: 198 26.9%
See comments…
Back
Top