Nithyanandam Ramasamy
Formula 1 returns for the next act of the 2021 season at Gran Primo Del Made In Italy E Dell’emilia Romagna 2021 GP. Breath! Don’t be shocked! In short, it’s the 2021 Emilia Romagna GP. In the first act Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes thrived with their smart strategy and racing as Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen suffered a hammer blow at a track where they looked strong throughout the weekend.
Imola has a lot of potentials to answer our questions on whether Mercedes can match Red Bull Racing on a raw pace this season. The race could sow seed for a renewal of the Mclaren vs Ferrari rivalry. We could also witness the potency of the home team ‘AlphaTauri’. And there are many more expectations from the race.
Track Details:
General Stats:
- Imola hosted the first-ever two-day race weekend in F1 in 2020
- Michael Schumacher, with 7-wins, has the most wins at Imola
- Only two drivers on the grid have won races previously at Imola. Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton have one win each
- Only 5-active teams have won races at Imola. Williams, Ferrari, McLaren, Renault and Mercedes have won races at Imola. Williams and Ferrari sit at the top with 8-wins each
- Ayrton Senna, with 8-pole positions, has registered most pole positions in Imola
- Only Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas on the current grid have pole positions at Imola
- Starting on 5th is the farthest grid position to win a race in Imola. The feat has been done twice by Nelson Piquet in 1980 and 1981
- The front row starters have won 64.28% of the races
- The last 6 races at Imola have been won by the front row starter
Race Wins Per Grid Position Details:
Talking Points:
Title Contenders:
Mercedes comes to Imola with an unpredictable win in Bahrain. The champions proved once again that even if they are on a back foot, they would find a way to succeed! Their shrewd pits stop strategy (at least for Lewis Hamilton) and some smart driving from Lewis Hamilton kept Red Bull Racing on their toes. Mercedes will be biting their nails in hope that the track characteristics would be kind enough to their low rake concept.
Red Bull Racing have missed a golden opportunity to set a benchmark in the first race of this season. On paper, they once again start a race as favourites in 2021. The team from Milton Keynes would try to capitalize on the high-speed corners of the track. A double podium with a win will put them in the driver’s seat in the championship fight. Both Mercedes and Red Bull Racing will also need a trouble-free race for their second drivers Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez. If stars align at the right place, we might even get a chance to see a 4-way battle for the race win.
Mercedes Stats:
- Mercedes last 1-2 in a race was in the 2020 Emilia Romagna GP
- Mercedes last front-row lockout was in the 2020 Sakhir GP. That’s only two races ago
- Valtteri Bottas failed to win his last 8 races. His last win came in the 2020 Russian GP
- Mercedes have failed to register a win in the second race of the season only twice in the hybrid era
- Mercedes have an active point-scoring streak of 51 races starting from the 2018 British GP
- With a point finish in Imola, Lewis Hamilton will improve his points-scoring streak to 51 races
- Mercedes last failed to register a pole position in 3 consecutive races was in 2019 when they missed out on pole positions in 7-consecutive races
- Valtteri Bottas has registered 16-pole positions so far in his career. He’s second on the list of pole positions by non-F1 Champions. If he repeats his pole from the 2020 Emilia Romagna GP qualifiers, he will be 1-pole position away from equalling the record set by Rene Arnoux for most pole positions by a non-champion
- Lewis Hamilton has led the championship in 120 races. He will equal Micheal Schumacher’s record for the most races leading the WDC if he leads the championship at the end of the 2021 Emilia Romagna GP
Red Bull Racing Stats:
- Red Bull Racing have never registered a win or podium at Imola
- Their best finish coming in 2005 when Vitanio Liuzzi finished on 8th
- They have started on top 3 only once at Imola when Max Verstappen slotted his car 3rd in 2020
- They have a chance of registering their 3rd consecutive pole position for the first time since 2013
- Max Verstappen has 33-podium places without a win
- Max Verstappen has a chance to lead the championship for the first time in his career
- Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen have visited the F1 rostrum 14-times together. They will break the record set by Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel if they step on the podium together at Imola
- Max Verstappen has never scored a podium in Italy. His best finish in Italy is the 5th position in the 2018 Italian GP. His last 3 outings in Italy have ended in a DNF
Best Of The Rest:
Mclaren, Ferrari and AlphaTauri had shown potentials in Bahrain for competing for the 3rd position this year. However, Imola will give us clear evidence of this battle. Mclaren were the best of the rest in Bahrain. They scored 18-points with a 4th and 7th place finish. Meanwhile, the resurgent Ferrari had a positive weekend as they are looking like a team that has improved in all aspects. Imola has the potential to sow seeds for the renewal of this historical rivalry.
Ferrari are expected to bring in new updates to Imola. They will be hoping that those updates will help them close the gap to Mclaren during the race. We can’t ignore the home team AlphaTauri as they have armoury, which is quite good enough to take the fight to McLaren and Ferrari. It has been evident from their one-lap pace and Yuki’s race performance in Bahrain. In a normal circumstance, we could see a 3-way battle for the best of the rest at Imola.
Night’s fallen on us in Italy. Back tomorrow. 🌙#ImolaGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/2b62xxTe4c
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) April 14, 2021
Best Of The Rest Stats:
- Mclaren have scored points in 17 of the last 18 races
- At least one Mclaren car has made it to the Q3 in 17 of the last 18 races
- Lando Norris has never missed out on the top 10 finish in Italy
- Daniel Ricciardo is on a point-scoring streak of 12 races
- The last time Ferrari failed to score a point at Imola was in 1992
- Carlos Sainz is on a point-scoring stream of 8 races. He has never finished below 8th in those races
- AlphaTauri have failed to score points in only 2 of the last 18 races
- Italy is the successful country for AlphaTauri as they have registered both their wins there
- With a top-10 finish, Pierre Gasly will become the 51st F1 driver to score 200 career points
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Other Talking Points:
Alpine and Aston Martin had a weekend to forget in their first race after the rebranding. Alpine would try to make sure they don’t leave a sandwich wrapper inside the driver’s cockpit whereas Aston Martin’s Otmar Szafnauer has seen roaming the circuit with a presentation on why low rakes are bad for F1 racing! Jokes aside. Alpine and Aston Martin need a strong weekend from the car and their drivers to have any chance of catching the best of the rest midfield teams. Aston Martin, like Mercedes, would be keeping their fingers crossed that the circuit characteristics don’t affect their low rake set up.
Resurgent Alfa Romeo is there to pounce on Alpine and Aston Martin if there’s any slip up from them. Having said that, the litmus test awaits for Williams and Haas as they look to lock horns at the bottom of the grid. Williams are ready to up their performance whereas Haas set to have another difficult weekend.
Other Stats:
- If Sebastian Vettel scores points in Imola, he would have scored points in 15 consecutive seasons
- Kimi Raikkonen has been consecutively classified for 17 races in a row
- Sebastian Vettel has been consecutively classified for 10 races in a row
Emilia Romagna GP could set the tone for the upcoming races as Formula 1 returns after a 3 weeks break, which gave us the postseason vibes. Add a little bit of rain this weekend, the race has the potential to throw some wild card podium finishers as well. This weekend’s race could either be an Italian Margharita Pizza or a Pineapple added to the Pizza. There is no in-between as Formula 1 will never fail to amaze us.
