- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Show Preview
Formula One’s new era makes its European debut in 2022, returning to the heartland of Ferrari off the back of Charles Leclerc’s dominant win in Australia, at the classic Imola circuit for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Join The Roar for live race updates and rolling coverage from 11pm (AEST).
Wet weather and the return of the Sprint format have highlighted the weekend in Imola thus far, ahead of the 63-lap race where Max Verstappen – after his second retirement of the season in Melbourne – will head Leclerc on the front-row of the grid.
The reigning world champion put on a show in the 21-lap Sprint, losing the lead at the start to Leclerc in the Ferrari, but then reeling him in for the pass at the end. Verstappen, along with Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz, showed that overtaking is possible around this 4.9km circuit in the new ground effect cars.
With overtaking in mind, the top four cars comprised of the Red Bulls and Ferraris all look to be in the hunt for the victory. It may all come down to tyre degradation, which with the limited dry running this weekend – leaves teams with minimal data to analyse.
Imola is a circuit prone to incidents and as seen already in the Sprint between Guanyu Zhou and Pierre Gasly on the opening lap, racing incidents are easy to occur. This means a strong likelihood of Safety Cars and possibility of surprise results through the grid.
McLaren on the third row of the grid already have banked solid points from the Sprint due to the revised points system, with Lando Norris heading teammate Daniel Ricciardo – who looked more comfortable with his car this weekend. Holding station could see them really bolster their position in the constructor’s championship.
The same can’t be said of Mercedes, however, who along with their existing car problems in 2022 have been severely struggling with tyre warmup. This left George Russell eleventh at the end of the Sprint and Lewis Hamilton as lowly fourteenth.
Haas and the likes of Valtteri Bottas and Fernando Alonso are ahead of the Silver Arrows, so it would require every bit of talent from Russell and seven-time world champion Hamilton to break into the top ten for points in the race.
Can Ferrari deliver on home soil to the delight of the Tifosi? Or can Red Bull return serve for some crucial championship points?
Find out with live blog updates on The Roar from 10:50pm (AEST) at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Lights out: 11pm (AEST)
Venue: Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola
TV: Fox Sports
Online: Kayo Sports, Foxtel
Grid
1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull), 2. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 3. Sergio Perez (Red Bull), 4. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), 5. Lando Norris (McLaren), 6. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), 7. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), 8. Kevin Magnussen (Haas), 9. Fernando Alonso (Alpine), 10. Mick Schumacher (Haas), 11. George Russell (Mercedes), 12. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), 13. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), 14. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), 15. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), 16. Esteban Ocon (Alpine), 17. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), 18. Alex Albon (Williams), 19. Nicholas Latifi (Williams), 20. Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo)
Hide Preview
Looking for great odds on racing and sport? Get into the action with PlayUp today. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.