Imola demands most of drivers

The once traditionally low-speed, high-downforce circuit has now been dotted with chicanes, separated with semi-long straights, which lay emphasis on braking.

While braking remains a technical challenge, the relatively smooth but tight 4.933 kilometer Enzo de Dino Ferrari track also makes it demanding on an F1 engine. It’s a factor that even Renault’s race engineer Fabrice Lom acknowledges despite the fact that his team have put together an engine that’s not faltered so far.

Lom’s logic is simple: no long straights mean more movement of mechanical parts — especially pistons — which are stressed by long periods of high rev. Likewise the chicanes — which come up in quick succession — would mean heavy braking, leading to considerable brake fade.

That in turn means drivers would need longer brake distances to slow for a corner. The 62-lap race has a total of 992 corners. Now go figure.

The key, as many pundits including Ferrari’s technical head Ross Braun say, is that those achieving the highest levels of downforce would top timesheets.

While 1998 winner David Coulthard singles out Imola as ‘‘hard for overtaking’’, Toyota’s Jarno Trulli, currently second in the Drivers Championship, talks of using the kerbs to good effect. Using the kerbs has been a problem in the past for Toyota; and Jordan’s Narain Karthikeyan, who would be driving the circuit for the first time, also thinks so.

Imola’s numerous kerbs — normally used as a racing line — can be dangerous for cars that aren;t manouevred properly as they tend to ‘jump’ over them. As Lom explains, the rear wheels leave the ground, exposing the engine to the risk of over-revving, or excessive use of the rev limiter. For the engine, hitting the limiter is a scenario to be avoided when possible because it increases the level of vibration on the engine.

For those drivers who use their intelligence, and have tyres made of softer compunds, a podium finish becomes that much more certain.