After a long journey around the world, Formula 1 arrives in Europe where it will remain, except for the Canadian GP, until the end of summer.
The first stop is the Emilia Romagna GP, now in its fifth edition, although the Imola circuit has already hosted 31 GPs: in 1980 it was the venue for the Italian GP, while from 1981 to 2006 it hosted the San Marino GP. Due to the Covid-19 restrictions, the Bologna circuit returned to the calendar in 2020 and since then only the 2023 floods have prevented it from taking place.
The GP data
According to the Brembo Group technicians who work closely with all Formula 1 drivers, the 4.909 km long Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari falls into the category of medium-demanding circuits for the brakes.
On a scale of 1 to 5, it has earned a difficulty index of 3 because although there are 9 braking points, only one requires at least 90 meters for deceleration. Each lap, the F1 drivers use the brakes for less than ten and a half seconds: 3 braking points are in the High category, 4 Medium and 2 Light.
The toughest corner
The toughest corner of the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari for the braking system is turn 17 (known as Rivazza) where the single-seaters go from 292 km/h to 122 km/h in 2.09 seconds during which they cover 105 meters. In that phase, the drivers are subjected to 4.1 g of maximum deceleration and exert a load of 145 kg on the brake pedal. The braking power is 2,026 kW.
The sad one-two finish
The 1982 San Marino GP is remembered for the break between Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi: that day Ferrari achieved a historic one-two finish, with the Frenchman winning ahead of the Canadian. It was since the 1979 Italian GP that Ferrari had not achieved the first two positions in a GP.
Yet the tension on the podium and in the pit lane was palpable. The fault of the last 15 laps, after the retirement of René Arnoux who handed the first 2 positions to the Ferrari drivers: instead of closing in parade, the two overtook each other several times and in the end Villeneuve looked quite dejected.
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The first caliper
The 1982 San Marino GP marked a turning point for F1 braking systems because it was the first won by a Brembo caliper. Until the year before, in fact, Brembo had limited itself to supplying the discs to Scuderia Ferrari. Having gained some experience in competitions, it created a 4-piston caliper composed of two aluminum fused semi-calipers mechanically coupled. The caliper had a radial attachment, pistons of different diameters and a large upper opening that guaranteed better ventilation.
From one to ten
The first Brembo caliper for F1 was used exclusively by Scuderia Ferrari for a couple of championships and only later was it also used by others. Over the years, more and more teams have chosen to rely on Brembo calipers until in 2022, for the first time since its debut in 1975, the Brembo Group supplied its calipers to all 10 F1 teams: 9 teams through Brembo calipers and the remaining one with AP Racing calipers, a company based in Coventry but owned by the Bergamo-based company. The clean sweep was also recorded in 2023, 2024 and 2025.