Imola signs agreement with Bernie for Italian GP

Nick Gregory · Jul 18, 2016

Motorsports.com

As much as I hate to see Monza not on the calendar, for the first time since 1980, I'm glad that the Italian GP could at least be held on a respectable track.

fortyfivekev · Jul 18, 2016

A lot of circuits sign agreements and never end up hosting a GP. This is probably just a ruse to pressure Monza into doing what Bernie wants. Imola is an okay track but the way it is now would not make for good racing with the current generation F1 cars.

yusupov · Jul 18, 2016

imola is okay....lol

Andy 'Mars Bar' Graham · Jul 18, 2016

The ACI have the final say, and their president wants the race at Monza. People are overreacting when it may not even happen

Milos · Jul 18, 2016

Imola would be cool to see again, but not instead of Monza.

Andrew Harper · Jul 18, 2016

I'm really torn on this one. Both Monza and Imola are great circuits for different reasons. I've never been there for a GP but I have visited both tracks when I was driving through Europe. Monza is the out and out temple of speed. Imola is a circuit within a town almost. There's a school in the middle of it! Haha. Very cool place.

Both deserve their place but Imola probably does have the issue of an ageing pits complex and parts of the circuit looked pretty worn. Partly the same at Monza as well.

The only "fan" issue I suppose is overtaking. Imola is an old world circuit so is much narrower and more tricky to overtake on.

I would be happy as an f1 fan to have an alternating agreement but we'll see.

TomcatMF · Jul 20, 2016

Monza is such a unique circuit on the F1 calendar, where horsepower matters above all else. It really should always be on the calendar.

Andrew Harper · Jul 20, 2016

TomcatMF said:
Monza is such a unique circuit on the F1 calendar, where horsepower matters above all else. It really should always be on the calendar.

I miss the old Hockenheim for the same reason. Not always the best for overtaking but those flat out sprints through the forest always made it good fun for me to watch (and it allowed an F1 car to stretch it's legs!

)

TomcatMF · Jul 20, 2016

Andrew Harper said:
I miss the old Hockenheim for the same reason. Not always the best for overtaking but those flat out sprints through the forest always made it good fun for me to watch (and it allowed an F1 car to stretch it's legs!)

Monza is about the closest thing that F1 has to an Oval race (and if they opened up that part of the track it would be one too) in terms of average speed over a lap. I just love seeing cars go as fast as they can.

Mitja Bonca · Jul 20, 2016

Monza is a Must have track in f1 calandar, no doubt about it. All this mess now around it, it's only because Bernie wants to do some changes & modifications, and I'm sure he will succeed it. For 2018 a new changed Curva Grande will come, that means that the 1st chicane will "move" to Curva Grande, but a bit into the right from where it is now. Personally I would even remove or modify the 2nd chicane, which is really there for no reason.
Whats for Imola, it just cannot replace Monza, it can only be there as 2nd Italian gp, or San Marino's. Imola is not what was in the past. There is not any single fast turn, which were there up to 1994. It's one more in the list of stop&go tracks. Not good for f1 cars, which now and will suit more to Monza. Go, go Monza