Imola tipped to ‘shape the rest of the season’ as development race hots up
Could this weekend's race at Imola be a sign of what's to come during the rest of F1 2024?
This weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix has been tipped to “shape the rest of the 2024 season” as the F1 development race hots up.
After early signs pointed towards another season of Red Bull domination, Lando Norris’ victory over Max Verstappen in McLaren’s upgraded car in Miami has raised hopes that the reigning world champions can be challenged in 2024.
McLaren will have their full upgrade package on both cars at Imola, while Ferrari and Mercedes are also bringing significant updates to their respective challengers.
Red Bull will also introduce an updated version of their RB20 as they look to get back to winning ways in their quest to win back-to-back world championships for the third straight season.
“The threat of Red Bull is ever-present,” Tom Clarkson said on the F1 Nation podcast. “I remember Adrian Newey saying at the first race in Bahrain that the Red Bull is going to look very different at race seven.
“Well, we’re coming to race seven now. So they are bringing new parts to the Red Bull. What are they going to do? Well, we have to wait until first practice on Friday to find out.
“I actually feel that this weekend is going to shape the rest of the 2024 season because Red Bull are bringing new bits, Ferrari are bringing new bits which they’ve already tested at Fiorano last week, McLaren of course have got the new bits and Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren is gonna have the full upgrades on his car.
“So how it plays out this weekend is going to give us a lot of clues as to how the rest of the season is going to play.”
1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill added: “It is going to be fascinating to see how it plays out.
“Imola has got very high-speed corners but not a lot of big radius corners and there’s precious little in the way of very slow corners so slippery cars will be better there and cars with good change of direction.
“It doesn’t necessarily, I don’t think, need maximum downforce. You’ve got a relatively high average speed.
“I think Red Bull are going to be quick there but if they are bringing upgrades all I can say is I don’t know what those upgrades are going to do, none of us do at the moment, except you can pretty much assume it’s going to be better.”
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for Crash.net around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
