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Race Name: San Marino Grand Prix
Circuit Length: 3.063 miles
Race Length: 63 laps
Lap Record: Michael Schumacher, Ferrari 1m22.491s

Felipe Massa's View

"Take the main straight in seventh about 300km/h, before dropping down to third for Tamurelo, hitting the kerbs hard for a good line. Then a flat left hander before a short 290km/h straight, after which you brake hard for third gear Villeneuve. Next, Tosa, the left-hand hairpin, before the run up to Piratella, a really quick left hander taken in fifth flat a 200km/h. Then downhill into a fast right hander before Acqua Minerale. You're in second here and get hard on the throttle for the hill. Next up is Variante Alta: not an easy corner because you have to jump the kerbs. Then downhill into two tricky left handers at Rivazza and then the hardest braking of all. A little straight leads to the last, second gear chicane, then you're back on the main straight."

Nick Heidfeld's View

“I'm looking forward to the first race back in Europe. After a while it's better not to have so much traveling. Our last pre-season test was here in Imola, and it went well,” Nick said. “I like the Imola circuit very much. It has quite a few quick chicanes and a nice combination of corners - slow and medium-speed. It's a challenge to establish a really good rhythm. The changes in elevation also make it more fun."

The Track's F1 History

The Imola circuit was built in 1950 and will, unfortunately, always be remembered as the place where Ayrton Senna lost his life.

Imola has held a Grand Prix on behalf of the tiny San Marino principality since 1981 and it has been the scene of many memorable races and some enormous accidents, such as Gerhard Berger’s fiery wreck in 1989. It has also seen several thrilling wet-dry races, notably in 1981 and 1995. In the turbo era, Imola was notorious for being tough on fuel consumption. Cars often ran dry in the final stages and there were rarely many finishers.

Unfortunately the shine was taken off it for the 1995 race with the heavy safety changes brought about by the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna the year before. [Editor's note: Read Alex's account of this fateful weekend here]. It is also a pity that such a place will always be associated with the great Brazilian's demise. Tamburello, the scene of Senna's accident, has been re-profiled and is now a left-right-left section that is still quite tricky. Villeneuve is now broken up by a chicane, making Tosa much easier than before. Piratella remains a fast and demanding bend, while Acque Minerali has actually got quicker than it used to be. Imola may have changed a great deal, but it is still one of the more challenging venues on the calendar, with some of the least offensive chicanes in the world.

The Track

After Ayrton Senna's death in 1994 Imola became the focus of the "Ban Motor Racing" fraternity's campaign. Senna's death at Tamburello would have been survivable had a piece of the suspension arm not pierced his helmet visor. It could honestly be said to be an occurrence that could happen anywhere.

Roland Ratzenberger's death the day before was a far worse indictment of the safety standards in Formula 1 at the time as his impact was into a wall at close to 200mph. Either way both Tamburello and Tosa (where Ratzenberger crashed) were re-profiled with chicanes emerging at both locations. Nelson Piquet and Gerhard Berger had both had big accidents at Tamburello while the nature of Ratzenberger's accident was such that it had to be changed.

Though no one would want to see that level of danger return to F1 (the death of Dale Earnhardt is an illustration of just how unacceptable such an amount of danger is in modern sport is). Unfortunately this has led to much of Imola's old spirit being destroyed (I have never understood why they didn't just bring Tamburello forward to just after the start/finish straight in a similar way to that at Magny-Cours). Despite all the chicanes there are still a few good corners and the race in 1995 showed that the track can also still hold a good race.

The teams all enjoy San Marino as it is the start of the European Season and therefore a hell of a lot easier to get to than the first two "flyaway" races. This also means that parts can easily be flown out to the teams from their factories. In addition it is the first Italian race and the Tifosi (Ferrari supporters) will be even more fired up than usual as both Schumacher and Barrichello have a good chance of winning. Imola has seen both the largest and the smallest field enter the race. In 1989 39 cars attempted to enter the race with 26 cars starting (the usual number until 1995).

In 1982 internal F1 politics saw the British teams stay away leading to a field of just 14 cars taking the start. Although this should have led to a dull race the inter-team scrap between Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi absorbed the watching masses after Pironi broke a promise to his team mate not to overtake him. It is Villeneuve's fury regarding this race which many feel led to his death in Zolder in the following race.

The Last Few Years

Although Imola is still overshadowed by the crashes in 1994, the race has been held there 6 times since then. In 1994 Schumacher won the race from Nicola Larini's Ferrari and Hakkinen's McLaren was third.

In 1995 Damon Hill managed to assuage the spirits that must have hung over the Williams team by scorching to a great win on a drying track. Coulthard got involved in a bit of argey bargey with Jean Alesi's Ferrari while Michael Schumacher went off in quite a big way when he lost it going over Piratella.

In 1996 a smart strategy from Adrian Newey combined with an unstoppable Hill to take a second successive victory. The race was also memorable for Michael Schumacher's qualifying effort where he literally drove the wheels off his Ferrari in order to claim pole position, the car's suspension failing after he crossed the start finish line.

In 1997 Heinz Harald Frentzen claimed his one and only win for Williams when he beat off sustained pressure from Schumacher, Villeneuve and, later, Irvine. In 1998 Coulthard managed to win a pretty straightforward victory from Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine. After Schumacher had barged Coulthard out of the way in the previous (Argentinean) race many thought that the win was just revenge on the part of the Scot.

In 1999 Schumacher won after Hakkinen made a mistake while leading comfortably. Coming out of the final chicane Hakkinen managed to get a wheel on the dirt and the car pivoted into the safety wall. Schumacher ended up winning after Coulthard was held up for a number of laps by Olivier Panis in the Prost which led to questions being asked about both Coulthard's ability to lap people and the place of backmarkers in contemporary racing. The other worthy point of that race was it was Damon Hill's highest finish that year.

In 2000 Schuey had another win and, by that stage, was looking unassailable in the championship battle despite the closeness of his battle with Hakkinen. The real fight in the race was between Villeneuve's BAR and Salo's Sauber though Coulthard and Barrichello also had a good scrap.

2001 saw Ralf Schumacher scored his debut win at Imola with Schumacher putting in his least impressive race of the season while his older brother retired with problems with his brakes Montoya put in a couple of great moves but eventually retired as did Raikkonen who had the terrifying experience of having his steering wheel come off in his hands!

At Imola in 2002 the beginning of the Ferrari steamroller for that season started as Michael Schumacher cruised to an effortless victory having secured an all Ferrari front row the day before. The race saw the debut of the F2002 for both drivers and Rubens Barrichello's easy second place showed that the team were going to be a force to be reckoned with for the rest of the year.

Last year the race was overshadowed by the death of the Schumacher brothers' mother on the Saturday night before the race. Michael and Ralf qualified 1-2 and both then immediately left the track to be with their mother. Michael went on to score an emotional victory while Ralf faded to a distant 4th behind Montoya and Raikkonen.

2003 San Marino Grand Prix Results

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