| It’s sad that Imola will forever be tainted by what happened in that dark weekend in 1994, when the sport lost both Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna, because it’s an amazing venue for Formula 1 to revisit this weekend. Changes to the track layout since have certainly made it safer, but no less challenging. I got to drive there in a Lamborghini Super Trofeo car a few years back, and it’s a hell of a racetrack. The removal of the final chicane makes the blast past the pits towards Tamburello insanely fast, and once you’ve negotiated the double chicanes that follow, the run from Tosa through Piratella and plunge into the fantastic Acqua Minerale is exhilarating. Once you’ve bumped through the Variante Alta, the downhill right-hand run to Rivazza is so iconic, with the red-roofed houses so close to the track and the Tifosi-packed tribunes. It’s sad that they won’t be there to witness the race this weekend, but I imagine the hillside that overlooks the track might need some policing… And check out our video of Marc Gene driving a 2007-spec Ferrari there (below)!
 Charles Bradley, Global Editor in Chief
Motorsport.com | 
