This weekend the Formula One 2022 World Championship heads to Italy for round four at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix - which will feature the first Sprint of the season.
The race will take place at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola this Sunday, and is set to be a hectic weekend as several teams bring updates in a bid to fight further up the field.
The new regulations brought into force this season continue to pose great challenges to numerous outfits - aside from Ferrari who are early-season favourites for the title.
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Charles Leclerc - who currently leads the driver’s standings - will be looking to add to his bank of points this weekend at his team’s home race as the Tifosi arrive in hoards to support.
Meanwhile, his on-track rival Max Verstappen will be trying to claw back performance in the Red Bull after a disastrous Australian GP that ended in a DNF for the 24-year-old.
The Dutchman will be rearing to go after he described the Melbourne weekend as "pretty frustrating and unacceptable.”
So ahead of this weekend’s antics, here’s everything you need to know:
The track
The track, which is named in memory of Enzo and Dino Ferrari, is around 30 kilometres from Bologna and is known to be a difficult and extremely technical track for the drivers and strategists.
It features 19 corners with just one straight long enough to justify a DRS zone - so the drivers will have to take full advantage of being within a second of the car in front.
This weekend's track layout now features a section of flat-out acceleration from the exit of Rivazza 2 to the Tamburello chicane with the Variante Bassa having been removed from the section - which is also home to the only DRS zone.
Since its inaugural race in 1981, there have been 29 Formula 1 races held at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit – where Lewis Hamilton holds the fastest lap of 1:15.484s (2020).
It is one of three races this season that runs anti-clockwise and has been held just twice before as the ‘Emilia Romagna Grand Prix - in 2020 and 2021. Before this, it was referred to as the San Marino Grand Prix (1981 - 2006) before its long hiatus from the calendar.
Michael Schumacher holds the record for the most wins at this track (7), while Ferrari (8) and Williams (8) are tied as the most successful Constructors here.
The fourth race of the 2022 season will take place across 63 laps of the 4.909km circuit at Imola on Sunday, April 24 with lights out at 2:00 pm Irish time.
Sprint Qualifying changes
A number of changes have been made this season to the format of Sprint qualifying after feedback from drivers and team bosses in 2021.
Every driver will race across 100km on a Saturday afternoon, with the results deciding the pecking order for Sunday’s main event.
However, this year the driver who sets the fastest time in Q3 of qualifying on Friday night will be credited with pole position regardless of their finishing position in the sprint race on Saturday.
The top eight finishers during Sprint Qualifying will now receive points after last year saw only the top three finishers rewarded with points.
The winner will now pick up eight points, rather than three, meanwhile, they will trickle down to eighth place and will apply to both the F1 world drivers’ and constructors’ championships.
They will be awarded as follows: 1st will get 8 points, 2nd 7 points, 3rd 6 points, 4th 5 points, 5th 4 points, 6th 3 points, 7th 2 points, 8th 1 point.
Saturday’s grid will be decided on Friday, by using the current format seen on a Saturday, and there will be a 60-minute practice session on Friday and Saturday mornings.
Parc Fermé conditions will apply from the start of Qualifying on Friday to:
- stop the construction of special Qualifying cars
- limit the number of hours required for preparing the car for the following day
- allow enough reconfiguration of the cars to make Saturday morning Free Practice a useful session
2021’s race recap
The last time out was a rain-soaked affair, and featured numerous race leaders, switching of tyre strategies, and a red flag after a hefty crash between Valtteri Bottas in the Mercedes and Williams’s George Russell at Tamburello.
Max Verstappen secured the win after the action-packed Emilia Romagna Grand Prix while Lewis Hamilton - who started in his 99th career pole - recovered from a mid-race spin that sent him hurtling down the order at Tosa to finish second.
Lando Norris managed a great recovery from seventh to come home in third and earned himself the Driver of the Day honour.
Leclerc had the podium in his sights last time out, but was overtaken by the McLaren at the red flag restart and came home in fourth.
Carlos Sainz finished fifth and made a number of trips through the gravel throughout the race, while Daniel Ricciardo held onto his starting position by the end of the race, crossing the line in sixth.
Pierre Gasly was in seventh followed by Lance Stroll in 8th after being dealt a time penalty post-race and was followed by the two Alpine’s of Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso filling out the top ten.
Championship Standings
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc continues to lead in the driver's standings as we head to round four of the 2022 season with 71 points.
Mercedes’s George Russell is in a distant second with 37 points and is ever so closely shadowed by the so far better-performing Ferrari of Carlos Sainz in third with 33 points.
After his podium finish in Melbourne, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez rose to fourth in the standings, while his teammate Max Verstappen is sitting in sixth behind his former faux Lewis Hamilton in fifth - with just three points between them.
Ferrari is so far running away with the constructor’s points and is at the top of the standings with 104 heading to Imola.
Mercedes are in second with 65 despite their early-season issues with the W13 and are ten points ahead of Red Bull with 55.
Weekend schedule
The weekend will kick off on Friday with the first Practice session starting at 12:30 pm Irish time and will be followed by Qualifying at 4:00 pm.
Saturday will see the second practice get underway at 11:30 am, with the first Sprint of the 2022 season taking place at 3:30 pm.
Then the main event on Sunday will see lights out at 2:00 pm.
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