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Jum'at - 13/4
Latihan Bebas 1
Latihan Bebas 2 |
Sabtu - 14/4
Latihan Bebas 1
Latihan Bebas 2
Kualifikasi |
Minggu - 15/4
Pemanasan
Balapan |
Circuit information:
| Round Number: |
4 |
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| Race Date: |
15-04-2001 |
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| Country: |
San Marino |
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| City: |
Imola (click for location map) |
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| Circuit Name: |
Imola |
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| Circuit Length: |
4933 m. |
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| Number of Laps: |
62 |
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| Race Length: |
305.609 m |
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| 2000 Pole Position: |
Mika Häkkinen |
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| 2000 Winner: |
Michael Schumacher |
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| 2000 Fastest Lap: |
Mika Häkkinen |
|
 Circuit
Description, History, Facts and
Figures |
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This will be the 21st Grand Prix held at
Imola: 19 San Marino Grands Prix have already
taken place, but the first Grand Prix at Imola was
the Italian in 1980.
There's an
interesting needle match developing at Imola
between Williams and McLaren. Williams have won
seven times to McLaren's six, but McLaren have
finished 1-2 on three occasions whereas Williams
have finished 1-2 only once. Ferrari has finished
1-2 twice, including last year.
Renault,
however, have an extraordinary record at the
circuit, with six victories including a 1-2 in
1992 while Honda have four wins - but all of them
are 1-2s! One person who was very much involved in
that record is Ayrton Senna, and he tends to be
associated with Imola for the saddest of reasons.
But don't forget that he also holds a remarkable
record at the circuit: he started from pole
position an incredible eight times and seven of
those were in succession.
Several drivers
have good reason to favour Imola. Reigning World
Champion Mika Hakkinen, for instance, scored his
first World Championship points there in 1991 with
fifth for Lotus. Heinz-Harald Frentzen scored his
one and only World Championship win there in 1997.
Giancarlo Fisichella is another who scored his
first World Championships points there: fourth for
Jordan in 1997. And among the milestones on this
occasion should be Rubens Barrichello's 100th
Grand Prix.
In terms of margin of victory,
the smallest margin was when Gilles Villeneuve
harried Didier Pironi all the way to the line in
1982 in their Ferraris, and Pironi was the
unscheduled winner by just 0.366s.
The
largest margin of victory was a full lap in 1985,
but then that was an odd race anyway: Ayrton Senna
was heading for victory when his Lotus ran out of
fuel. That put Stefan Johansson into the lead but
he, too, ground to a halt for the same reason.
Alain Prost took the chequered flag followed by
Elio de Angelis's Lotus. The Italian was a lap
ahead of Thierry Boutsen's Arrows which
freewheeled across the line with empty fuel tanks.
But then Prost's car was found to be under weight,
so de Angelis was declared the winner - a lap
ahead of Boutsen.
For most motor racing
enthusiasts, Imola arrived on the map in 1980 with
its first Grand Prix. But as with any circuit,
there is a long history which goes way back: 1953,
1950, 1947 or even 80 B.C. were all significant.
However, it's perhaps stretching it a little to
suggest that Imola's motor racing heritage stems
from the 15,000 seat amphitheatre built in 80 B.
C. on the Via Emilia towards Bologna.
Fast
forward to 1947: Imola was already the scene of
motocross events and unsophisticated street races.
One was washed out by a severe storm, and those
involved started searching for a more suitable,
even permanent location.
In the Acque
Minerali Park on the quiet, southern banks of the
River Santerno, a local engineer had begun to lay
out roads as part of an unemployment scheme. Four
young men fantasised about building a motorcycle
racing circuit there, well away from the town
centre. And when Enzo Ferrari visited Imola and
saw what was happening, he began to take an
interest. He would eventually compare the circuit
to a mini-Nurburgring.
And so, like all
good fantasies, the young men's dream eventually
became reality. The track comprised three
straights interspersed by 16 bends whose radii
varied from 36 to six meters, a total of 5017 long
and winding, fast and picturesque meters. The
first sod was turned in March 1950.
In
1952, the track was tested by Ascari, Villoresi
and Marzotto driving Ferrari 340 sports cars. They
averaged 149 kph while a trio of motorcycle racers
averaged 138 kph. On April 25th, 1953 Imola hosted
its first event, a motorcycle meeting organised by
the 4047 strong Motor Club of Imola, the biggest
club in Italy.
After the initial success,
the organisers set up a huge fund in order to make
their Gold Cup motorcycle meeting permanent,
resulting in a motorcycle festival which spread
through the whole region. At the same time,
Imola's first event for sports cars was won by
Umberto Maglioli in a Ferrari.
However,
Imola was very much a motorcycle circuit during
its formative years and one Bernard Charles
Ecclestone remembers racing a Manx Norton there in
the mid-fifties. He would return a few years later
to race a Cooper.
Little development took
place during those early days as officialdom and
politics prevented progress. Owners of nearby land
made claims and counter-claims while parishioners
using a church within the circuit had to be issued
with special passes. In 1959, however, development
restarted.
Four years later came the big
day when Grand Prix cars first raced at Imola, a
non-championship event but lacking two vital
ingredients: Ferrari and excitement. It was so
dominated by Jim Clark in a Lotus that it was 13
years before Formula One returned to the circuit.
In the meantime, Ferrari had become very
much involved in Imola. A motion by the city
council was passed in 1970 to name the circuit
after Enzo Ferrari's son Dino who had died in 1956
aged 24. And a couple of years later, control of
the circuit passed to the Bologna Automobile Club
and SAGIS, securing its future to the present day.
In 1979, Formula One returned to Imola for
a non-championship race. This was in order to test
the organisation and infrastructure so that a
Grand Prix could be run there. The idea was that
Imola would alternate with Monza to host the
Italian Grand Prix. This time Ferrari was the big
draw; Villeneuve and Scheckter were first and
second on the grid, but beaten by ex-Ferrari
driver Niki Lauda in the race.
Those who
had raced in the non-championship event knew what
to expect when Imola held the 51st Italian Grand
Prix in September the next year. Newcomers were
amazed by the facilities, whether for mechanics,
teams or journalists, although they were less
enamoured by the very tight Acque Minerali
chicane. The two turbocharged Renaults of Rene
Arnoux and Jean-Pierre Jabouille held the front
row, but dropped back and Nelson Piquet won in a
Brabham, although eventual champion Alan Jones was
second.
Enzo Ferrari's status in motor
racing meant that he was able to persuade motor
racing's governing body and those in charge of
promotion to adopt Imola as the venue for a San
Marino Grand Prix, having particularly close links
with the Republic. Thus Imola hosted its first San
Marino Grand Prix in the spring of 1981, won by
Piquet again in poor conditions.
Since
then, there has been a San Marino Grand Prix every
year. There have been memorable moments: the
Renault versus Ferrari battle in 1982, won by
Didier Pironi who grabbed victory from Gilles
Villeneuve in his last race. In 1983, both Patrese
and Arnoux went off to hand victory to Tambay and
Ferrari. Prost won on his last drops of petrol in
1986.
Piquet had a frightening accident at
Tamburello in 1987 and two years later Berger
crashed in flames at the same corner, the driver
miraculously unhurt. In 1994, Imola's black
weekend was marked by the tragic deaths of Roland
Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna. The circuit was
substantially changed for 1995; since then Hill
has won twice for Williams, Frentzen scored his
maiden victory, Coulthard won in 1998 and M.
Schumacher was last year's
winner. | | |
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Sirkuit - 2001 |
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