Lewis Hamilton is in awe of the single-lap thrill of Imola but fears the circuit won’t produce most overtaking on Sunday.
Formula 1 is back at the Italian track for the first time in 14 years this weekend, with the event running under the new title of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Of course, in that time, the cars have changed significantly, as they are now much bigger and much faster in the corners compared to 2006.
But while Hamilton enjoyed throwing his Mercedes over the kerbs and around the sweeping bends, he expects qualifying to be the only fun part of the weekend.
“This track is incredible – it’s unbelievable how fast it is,” he said after practice. “I think for a single lap it’s going to be incredible.
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“It’s definitely not going to be a great race circuit for us, being that it’s so fast and so narrow, it will be very difficult for people to overtake.
“There will probably be no overtaking after Turn 2 [Tamburello], on the main straight maybe you’ll see some overtaking. But on a single-lap it’s phenomenal, it’s really incredibly fast.
“The grip level is very high, it’s mostly medium-to-high speed and it’s very fast and flowing, the speed we are going through these corners, it’s just incredibly fast and beautiful.”
F1 is also using a new two-day format for the first time, meaning the 90-minute session on Saturday was the only track time drivers got before qualifying.
But Hamilton says the reduced running has not impacted his preparation.
“I’m not lacking anything, we have got all the knowledge we need from that session,” he said. “I know where the car is and where the car needs to be, so we’re not really lacking anything.
“It’s very close between us and the Red Bull’s and they are very fast, particularly in the middle sector, but I don’t feel that we are in a rush or anything like that. It was a good session and I got every lap that I needed and more.”
