Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari · Imola
63 laps · 4.909 km per lap · Pirelli C2 Hard / C3 Medium / C4 Soft
Imola is a bonus circuit not on the 2026 calendar — it dropped off after its contract wasn't renewed — but it remains one of the sport's most historic venues, following the natural contours of the Santerno river valley through old-school corners like Tamburello and the Villeneuve-Tosa chicane.
The lap is narrow throughout, with barriers close in many places and very little run-off by modern standards. That combination of a tight, technical layout and limited space makes overtaking genuinely difficult, closer in character to a street circuit than a typical purpose-built permanent track.
Degradation sits at a moderate level — the layout doesn't punish tyres as severely as a high-energy circuit, but the constant direction changes still add up over a race distance.
Pirelli nominates the C2 Hard, C3 Medium and C4 Soft for Imola. With moderate degradation and difficult overtaking, the compound gap matters less for pure survival than for how it shapes the timing of the single pit stop most strategies revolve around.
Durable enough to anchor a one-stop race to the flag, which is the default plan given how hard passing is at Imola.
A common starting tyre offering a reasonable pace step over the Hard while coping with a competitive stint length through the technical, narrow layout.
Q3 runners start on the Soft under the usual rules. Given how difficult overtaking is here, converting Soft pace into an early track-position advantage matters more than squeezing out every lap of tyre life.
With one of the lowest overtaking scores among the tracks PITWALL models, Imola rewards qualifying and pit-stop execution far more than outright race pace. The narrow, barrier-lined layout leaves few realistic passing opportunities, so a driver who loses track position at the stop often has to fight hard just to hold station.
This makes the pit stop itself one of the highest-leverage moments of the race — a clean, well-timed stop that doesn't lose a position is often worth more than several laps of superior pace on track.
The standard plan given the difficulty of overtaking: start on the Medium, pit once for the Hard, and defend position through the technical middle sector rather than looking for passes that are unlikely to materialise.
For Q3 runners on the Soft. A short first stint uses the Soft's pace before switching to the Hard for a stint that comfortably reaches the flag.
Given how little overtaking is available, teams put a premium on pit crew execution — a slow stop that costs a position can be effectively impossible to win back before the flag.
The main straight is Imola's clearest deployment zone, giving a well-charged driver a genuine chance at the circuit's limited overtaking opportunities into Tosa or Rivazza.
The tight, technical middle sector offers frequent but modest harvesting opportunities given the constant direction changes, making disciplined, repeatable energy management more valuable here than chasing one big deployment.
A one-stop is 9.3 s faster than the best two-stop in clean air.
One-stop pit window: lap 24–33 of 63
Single car, no traffic, track position or Safety Car — so PITWALL shows stop count and timing but no compound order: in 2026 the model prefers finishing on softs, while teams mostly ran medium → hard. Model circuit-1. How the model is calibrated →
Build your strategy for Imola in PITWALL. Defend track position through the technical middle sector and make every pit stop count.
Open PITWALL Simulator →