Five Things to Know About the Emilia Romagna GP

It's race week and the second doubleheader event of the 2024 Formula One season as we head to Imola for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

After races at some of the sport's newer venues like Miami and Jeddah, some traditional tracks now get their turn to host F1's 2024 cars.

We didn't get to go to Imola in 2023, so we're especially excited to head there and here are five things to look out for at the Emilia Romagna GP's return.

Imola has become the de-facto shorter name for many things about the Emilia Romagna GP, even though the circuit's official title is 'Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari'.

Yet it's not just the track name that gets used interchangeably at Imola.

The Grand Prix's name has also changed since it originally joined the calendar for a championship race in 1980.

Monza relinquished the Italian GP name for that 1980 event, and then Imola was back for the San Marino GP in 1981 until 2006.

San Marino gave way to the Emilia Romagna GP in 2020 when the circuit returned to F1 during the global pandemic under a new title honouring the Italian region where the circuit is situated.

Devastating floods in the Emilia Romagna region forced the race's cancellation in 2023 as the severe rainfall led to 23 nearby rivers bursting their banks.

The damage caused life-changing destruction for thousands of residents and local businesses.

Though there's no way to reverse the impact, the Formula 1 community did what it could to help, including a €1 million donation from Formula 1 and another €1 million from Ferrari, whilst Williams Esports organised a Virtual Emilia Romagna Grand Prix for charity.

Additionally, teams and F1 donated their planned catering food to those in the region who needed the help.

Formula 2 and Formula 3 kicked off their championships alongside Formula 1 back in Bahrain.

Some electrifying racing in the support series has our trio of prospects experiencing varying degrees of 2024 success, with Luke Browning leading the F3 standings while Franco Colapinto and Zak O'Sullivan get used to F2.

All three will resume their season in Imola after a long break since the Australian GP weekend.

Franco won his first F3 Sprint Race at the Italian track on his second weekend in the support paddock during 2022, while Zak gained places in the Feature Race.

Both are hoping for more points in 2024, and Luke will look to retain the championship lead for his first trip to Imola.

With a quarter of the 2024 season complete, we've yet to see any wet-weather battles during the races.

However, the previous two Emilia Romagna Grands Prix had damp conditions, so might we see the first use of Pirelli's intermediate or wet tyre in action on Sunday?

Europe's recent heatwave hit Italy last weekend, but the temperatures are cooling a little ahead of F1's visit.

As reported by our latest Weather Watch, the forecast does have a slight chance of rain in the area - but expect shorts and t-shirts in the grandstands as the mercury looks set to hit 24C on race day.

Formula One remembers the tragic 1994 San Marino GP every May in honour of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna, who both lost their lives in Imola.

This race is the 30th anniversary of that dark weekend, and memorials and events are in place at the track and the surrounding area to honour them.

Sebastian Vettel will drive Senna's McLaren MP4/8 over the weekend - the car the late Brazilian battled Alain Prost with during the pair's 1993 championship.

Prost helped Williams Racing to the title that year before his retirement after he and Senna contested one of F1's longest-lasting driver rivalries.

Ratzenberger had just two race weekends under his belt, but the Austrian's past had him take a class win in 1993's 24hrs of Le Mans in a racing career that spanned the globe.