Sport - Racing : Motor

A tough circuit to drive on

The San Marino Grand Prix is hosted at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit in the city of Imola, in the north of Italy near Bologna. However, rather confusingly, Imola is not actually located in the Republic of San Marino, even though the race is called the San Marino GP.

This is because, in 1981, for the first time, Italy was allocated two GPs, but of course, only one can be called the Italian GP.

The circuit is one of only three anti-clockwise circuits on the current F1 calendar, the others being Interlagos, Brazil, and the new circuit in Istanbul, Turkey. With 10 left and six right turns, the 4.933km lap of Imola is notorious for its high kerbs, which have in the past been the cause of many accidents.

The stop/start nature of the circuit also means that it is important that drivers qualify well and get as far up the grid as they can on the opening lap. If you qualify poorly, you can easily get stuck behind a guy who's one-stopping and it could seem like a very long afternoon.

The mix of long, high-speed straights and medium to high-speed corners along with blind apexes and tremendous elevation changes will mean that an optimum mechanical set-up will be crucial for success in San Marino.

The undisputed king

Michael Schumacher is the undisputed king here, having started the race from the P1 slot on four occasions. He has been in the top four on the grid a further eight times. He also has six San Marino GP victories to his credit. Among the other current drivers, David Coulthard and Fernando

Alonso have also won this race. I think it was at Imola last year that Alonso made everyone realise that he had what it takes to become a World champion, after he resisted an excruciating amount of pressure from Michael in the final 20-odd laps.

Intense work

After the last race in Australia, there have been three weeks of intense work for all the teams preparing for the start of the European leg of the season.

Many of the teams will be bringing revised packages to this weekend's race, with Williams being one of them. We tested extensively during the last couple of weeks at two circuits, Vallelunga and Barcelona. I carried out a lot of suspension work on the car, which produced some positive results.

I completed 97 laps and matched the pace of the other drivers on the track. All in all, I'm very happy with the way the test went, the car feels very comfortable now and I'm confident that we'll keep improving.

Qualifying on Saturday afternoon was a bit disappointing for Williams, with Nico Rosberg coming in 13th and Mark Webber 10th, but Williams has an enviable history at this track, winning 30 per cent of all races held here since the first race in 1981, so we are confident of a strong performance.

Michael stormed to the 66th pole position of his career, beating Ayrton Senna's record, which was set at this very same track, 12 years ago.

The Honda team are also looking very strong with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello qualifying second and third respectively. I'm looking forward to Sunday afternoon with eager anticipation.

Gameplan

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