It’s difficult to define what makes a racing circuit great – but whatever it is, Imola has it. Driving into the circuit, it hits you hard: massed memorabilia stalls you could easily spend a week exploring, massed crowds pouring into gates at Rivazza and above Piratella; driving up Via Alberto Ascari and down Via Tazio Nuvolari and Via Luigi Musso, through the park and past the elegant terracotta roofed houses that dot the hillside inside the circuit. History. And lots of it.

The history we repeated this weekend was, however, of a more recent vintage. A dry race starting on a wet track, with a fraught opening stint, through which Lando, once again, kept his head and brought home a trophy. Last year it was unexpected; this year it was… very unexpected.

…but perhaps less so when we got going. Imola is a tricky circuit, one where a compliant car is sometimes more useful than one delivering maximum pace on the razor’s edge. This certainly seemed to be the case on Friday morning when the circuit was soaking wet. Both drivers started on the full Wet tyre before moving to the Inter later in the session. While neither set headline times, they were both happy with the balance of the car.

Sprint race weekends don’t allow any time to build on FP1, with the crews immediately beginning quali prep the moment the drivers return to the garage at the end of the session. There was also quite a lot of anxious glances at the sky (or the weather radar screen). Rain had been falling for most of the day, turning the grass car parks and spectator banking into the sort of quagmire more readily associated with Glastonbury or Roskilde – but what caught the team’s attention was the possibility of the rain stopping.

Everyone’s still finding their way with the new cars but running it very low and very stiff is generally seen as the way to go. Everyone had to interpret the forecast and run the car they thought best for the rest of the weekend – and choose Qualifying, Sprinting or Racing as their priority. It’s fraught… but there’s definitely the scent of opportunity in the air.

Qualifying when it came was suitably chaotic. Both cars avoided the worst of the trouble, with Lando qualifying P3 and Daniel P6. In many respects, Daniel was a little unlucky with the three red flags in the final session. Conducted on Inters, he never got to complete a hot second lap when the tyres would have been at their best – and he was denied his final push lap when Lando slithered off into the wall, bringing the session to a halt a few seconds early. But P3 and P6… we’d definitely have taken that before the start.

Imola in late April is perfectly capable of providing four seasons in one day – but this weekend it did at least have the decency to spread those seasons out over three days. On Saturday the rain had disappeared, the skies were washed blue. We were, however, having a tough time of it on Saturday morning. Daniel’s crew discovered a gremlin on his car, of a ‘fixable-but-difficult-to-get-to’ variety that had him miss FP2. Things got worse when Lando reported a long pedal on his first lap of the morning. Fixing his brakes took most of the session, though a huge effort from his crew got him running again and out onto the track for a lap, five or six seconds before the chequered flag. Not ideal prep for the first Sprint of the season.

That Sprint, however, went well – though in dry conditions, the power of DRS combined with the evident advantages of the Ferraris and Red Bulls saw Lando drop gently through the field. ‘Best of the Rest’ is a pretty painful backhander but lining up fifth and sixth for Sunday’s Grand Prix felt like a real achievement – and in the new format, it meant we went into Sunday’s race with seven points already in the bag.

Having soaked us on Friday and tempted us with sunshine on Saturday, Sunday decided to do both, with a sunny morning giving way to driving rain and cooler temperatures in the afternoon. While not quite as bitter as Friday, the garage was still modelling our winter collection, with bodywarmers, jackets and bobblehats on display as the cars went to the grid. We are, of course, always the epitome of haute couture…

The weather picture was further complicated by the rain stopping just before the pit-lane opened, with both Wet and Inter tyres being used for the recon laps. 

On the upside, when the car isn’t quite quick enough, unsettled conditions represent an opportunity. It was also quite windy…

In fact, it was uncannily similar to last year’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, with the rain halting but the track not drying with any great speed. Everyone elected to start the race on an Inter, and both Daniel and Lando hooked-up great starts. After launching really well, Daniel slithered across the damp inside kerb in Turn Two and understeered into the side of Carlos Sainz, before getting rear-ended. Carlos was out, Daniel managed to keep going – but with diffuser damage from the secondary impact, he couldn’t get any performance out of the car for the rest of the afternoon. He rolled the dice with the first pit-stop onto slicks, and then rolled again converting to a two-stopper with a long stint on the Hard tyre – but nothing worked and he finished last. The stewards took a look at his first lap crash and declared it a racing incident… but Daniel owned it after the race.

Lando had a rather less exciting, though ultimately much more rewarding afternoon. Having snatched third at the start, he made the tough decision to not lose too much time holding off Charles Leclerc, dropping to fourth after seven laps. After this, the race became all about strategy, pegging his pace and the timing of his pit-stop to cover George Russell and Valtteri Bottas behind. That pit-stop, incidentally, was brilliant work from the crew, fastest of the day for the third time in four races. 

Lando ran a lonely and long stint to what looked like being an excellent fourth place – only for Charles Leclerc’s late spin and pit-stop handing him an unexpected podium. While the grandstands were naturally disappointed, there’s a vast amount of generosity in the crowd at Imola, and Lando got the biggest cheer of the day when he stepped onto the podium.

We’ll take the trophy, but the real prize was that, in very different conditions to those experienced before this year, the MCL36 ran well and was competitive in the midfield. There’s still a lot of caution in the team, and a belief that results are going to be track-specific at least for the first half of the year – but there’s also some relief that hard work is paying off… or, as Elena says…

And now, next stop, Miami!

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