We have officially reached the time to raise the curtain on a weekend that holds enormous meaning. We’re talking about the weekend of Grand Prix of Made in Italy and Emilia-Romagnathe seventh round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship. We will return to action on the Imola track, after the cancellation from a year ago.
The terrible flood which devastated Romagna in May 2023 made the removal of the stage on the Santerno track from the calendar inevitable, with the promise of a quick “goodbye”. After 12 months it’s time to think only about the track, trying to honor what happened a year ago in the best possible way. Today, therefore, we will get serious again in Imola, with the first two free practice sessions.
After two weekends with the Sprint Race, the Romagna stage will return to the normal format. Today the program includes the first free practice session at 1.30 pm, while the second session will start at 4.00 pm. Two hours of work on the track that will have to give us two answers. The first, obviously, if Red Bull is ready to dominate the scene far and wide again. The second, decidedly more interesting, is whether the package of updates that Ferrari will bring will have the desired effects.
The Maranello team is the latest to bring new features to its car and the anticipation is considerable. After the improvements seen at Red Bull and, above all, McLaren, will Ferrari’s response come? According to the Emilian team, these innovations which will offer a real 2.0 version of the SF-24 should earn Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz a couple of tenths. Often the Red has not confirmed expectations in terms of updates. In this case failure would be a sporting disaster. Will the right shot arrive for Ferrari in front of its audience? We’ll find out starting today with the first two free practice sessions.
