F1 action will move to Europe for the first time this season and teams will head out to Italy after a week-long break – when is the next race?
The 2023 F1 season has got off to a sensational start and we are ever so close to the first European race of the season.
F1 teams will head out to Italy for the historic Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, scheduled to take place from 19th May to 21st May. The Emilia Romagna GP will take place at the iconic and unique ‘Autodromo Internazionale Dino e Ferrari’ circuit also known as the ‘Imola circuit’.
The Emilia Romagna GP is the first of the two races that will take place in Italy during this F1 season – the other one being the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. Imola’s first F1 event was the Italian Grand Prix in 1980 and then became the venue of San Marino Grand Prix from 1981-2006. The circuit made a return to F1 as the venue for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in 2020. Since it was renamed, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was held for the first time in 2020.
The unique feature of the track in Imola is that it is one of the very few international circuits to run in an anti-clockwise direction. It has a total length of 4.909 kilometres including 19 turns. The circuit was first opened for the public in 1953 and supports a total capacity of 78,000 people. Ever since the circuit has been revamped, faster timings have been recorded. The official lap record for the current Grand Prix Circuit layout is 1:15.484 set by Lewis Hamilton in 2020.
Where do things stand ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix?
Red Bull continues to dominate the drivers’ championship standings after registering yet another 1-2 finish in Miami. They have made fantastic start to the season and previously recorded 1-2 finishes in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan besides a top-of-the-podium finish in Australia Max Verstappen leads the standings with 119 points followed by his team-mate Sergio Perez, who occupies the second spot with 105 points.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso lies in the third spot with 75 points – ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz and George Russell. The Red Bull duo have already created a considerable gap between themselves and the rest of the pack – other drivers need to pull up their socks very soon if they are to stand a chance.
In the constructors’ championship, the picture is no different. Defending champions Red Bull are miles ahead of the pack having accumulated 224 points. Aston Martin are significantly behind in second place, having earned 102 points from five races so far. Mercedes are placed third in the leaderboard with 96 points in their kitty – a whopping 128 points behind the leaders.
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