In 2025, Formula 1 cars are big.
Like, too big.
And that's not a fault that the 24 circuits should fully take the blame for when overtaking is difficult. But the truth is, some tracks really just don't work with the modern F1 car.
Monaco is the typical example and it's an understandable one -- overtakes on track are nearly impossible (but not for every formula series!). The sport is set to enforce multiple stops this year to try and add some excitement. But in the end, Monaco is going nowhere, because you can't pry it from the traditionalists of the sport. The outcry would be too much.
Imola, where F1 will head to in mid-May, is another story. A famous circuit with an incredible backdrop, covered in Italian racing history and loaded up with exhilarating, undulating turns. No one can doubt its place in the motorsport history books and for its beauty.
When fans and teams alike hear that F1 may be taking Imola off the calendar in the near future, the anger that comes with it usually stems from just that: it's historic, it's beautiful, how could you remove it?
But reality needs to take hold here when we think about where the sport, and its giant cars, go. And in that reality, Imola is an awful track for modern Formula 1. Heck, it was barely a good course for F1 decades ago.
Imola's narrow surface and set of turns that are not kind to overtaking maneuvers just do not serve for formula racing. Every race here, especially since F1 came back to Imola in 2020, is the same story -- hold your position through the entirety of the track and hope to god you can keep yourself close enough in the dirty air to make a move on the main straight.
The data shows this is really all we can get in a dry Imola race -- 10 overtakes in 2020, but then 42 in 2021 (thanks to some wet weather chaos), 23 in 2022 (also assisted by wet conditions).
We saw 30 overtakes in 2024 and a near chase down for the win by Lando Norris on Max Verstappen, but it was all for naught. -- and that excitement is really the peak for dry Imola - almost a big moment, but nothing in the end. A lot of the passing happened further to the back as well.
Even when F1 had much more nimble cars, it was a bore. F1's final stop at Imola before 2020 was in 2006 where there weretwo overtakes, and the thrills were Fernando Alonso trying to get by Michael Schumacher, but couldn't.
2005 is considered an iconic race, and it was edge-of-your-seat stuff as Schumacher tried to get by Alonso for 12 laps, and he simply couldn't get it done. In part because Imola is just so notoriously difficult to get a pass completed. There were nine total overtakes all race.
From 1996-2006, there was not one race at Imola with overtake numbers in double figures. Even in an era without DRS assistance to get by, those are brutal stats.
For a track with such little excitement from a wheel-to-wheel perspective, in a country with a better track already on the calendar in Monza, and with so many places chomping at the bit to get on the calendar (a return to Germany, South Korea or South Africa?), fans, teams and leadership have to make the tough decision.
F1 as a whole needs to do its part and bringing a better racing car back to the sport in 2026 and beyond. But there are already a handful of tracks that really aren't great for modern F1 racing on the calendar, but realistically aren't going anywhere for a variety of reasons (Suzuka is great, and the Japanese fanbase is unreal, but let's not pretend it provides great racing in 2025).
So it's time for some spring cleaning, and Imola should go the way of Zandvoort to make way for better racing. Any other thought process is hinging on history instead of facts.
Sorry, Italy.