The circuit is named after Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), founder of the Ferrari car company, and his son Alfredo "Dino" Ferrari (1932–1956). It was known as the Autodromo di Imola from 1953 to 1956 and the Autodromo Dino Ferrari from 1957 to 1988. The track was inaugurated as a semi-permanent venue in 1953. In April 1953, the first motorcycle races took place, followed by the first car race in June 1954.
Imola hosted non-championship Formula One races, including the 1963 Imola Grand Prix and the 1979 Dino Ferrari Grand Prix. It debuted in the official Formula One World Championship calendar by hosting the 1980 Italian Grand Prix. Following its success, the San Marino Grand Prix was established specifically for Imola in 1981 and remained on the calendar until 2006. Formula One stopped racing at Imola in 2007, but eventually returned in 2020, with the circuit hosting the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix since then. The 2023 Grand Prix was cancelled due to floods.
Safety concerns were raised throughout the 1980s and 1990s, particularly regarding the high-speed Tamburello corner. Fatalities occurred, including those that killed Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna in 1994 during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. In response, chicanes were introduced at multiple points to reduce cornering speeds, changing the nature of the course. The Tamburello corner was converted from a flat-out left-hander to a left-right-left chicane, and a gravel trap was added. The Villeneuve corner was also modified.
The circuit has hosted many other motor racing series, including the Superbike World Championship, Motocross World Championship, World Touring Car Championship, and European Le Mans Series. It has also been used for several road bicycle races, such as stages of the Giro d'Italia and the UCI Road World Championships. Since 1981, the circuit has hosted the Mostra Scambio, an open-air market focused on vintage vehicles.
Since 2007, the circuit has undergone major revisions, including a bypass to the Variante Bassa chicane for cars and the demolition and rebuilding of the old pit garages and paddock. The pitlane was also extended and resurfaced. The reconstruction was overseen by German F1 track architect Hermann Tilke. In August 2011, the track received a '1' FIA homologation rating. The circuit's president is Giancarlo Minardi.
The official lap record for the current Grand Prix circuit layout is 1:15.484, set by Lewis Hamilton during the 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The unofficial all-time track record is 1:13.609, set by Valtteri Bottas in the qualifying of the aforementioned race.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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