The inaugural Emile Romagna GP was held on November 1 last year and was won by Lewis Hamilton from his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, after Max Verstappen crashed out with a tyre explosion, when running in second place. The official name for this year's race is 'Formula One Pirelli Gran Premio del Made in Italy e dell' Emilia Romanga 2021'!
Circuit president Giancarlo Minardi would like the circuit to have a permanent place again on the F1 calendar again and says the race name is of "great significance".
The history of racing at Imola is also significant. Alain Prost won there three times, as did Senna, but Schumacher won it seven times.
It was also at Imola in 2005 that Fernando Alonso beat Schumacher in a thrilling race, on the way to his first championship, ending Schumacher's run after five consecutive titles with Ferrari.
Verstappen's tyre problem meant he had no choice when leaving the track in last year's race, but George Russell was a little embarrassed when he left the track behind the safety-car trying to put heat in the tyres on his Williams.
Over the years of the San Marino GP there were some terrible crashes. In 1987 Piquet crashed heavily after a tyre failure and missed the next race as he recovered.
Two years later Gerhard Berger had a front wing failure and crashed at Tamburello, his car bursting into flames. It was reminiscent of Romain Grosjean's fiery crash in Bahrain last year. Like Grosjean, Berger suffered burns to his hands, and missed the following race in Monaco. Ricardo Patrese also had a heavy crash testing the Williams in 1992.
But it was because of what happened to Senna in the first weekend in May 1994 that the Imola circuit will forever be remembered for. It was a black weekend for F1.
During Friday practice, Brazilian Rubens Barrichello hit a kerb and was launched into the catchment fencing. He was hospitalised but not seriously injured. Senna went to visit his fellow Brazilian in the hospital.
During Saturday qualifying, Roland Ratzenberger driving for Simtek had a front wing failure and was killed instantly after hitting the barrier.
Senna was unnerved by Barrichello's crash and Ratzenbeger's death. Neurosurgeon Syd Watkins, the head of the FIA medical team, suggested to Senna that he shouldn't race, but go fishing instead. However, Senna wanted to race, given Michael Schumacher had won the first two races, while Senna hadn't finished either of them. He was on pole and needed to beat Schumacher.
Prior to the race, Senna spent time talking to Alain Prost, his arch-rival, with whom he'd had a public falling out when they were McLaren teammates.
When Prost, nicknamed "The Professor" for his racing strategy, retired as world champion in 1993 with Williams, he and Senna began to patch up their differences after appearing on the podium together in Adelaide in 1993, which was Prost's last race.
Senna, fatefully as it turned out, got the Williams' drive for 1994 and decided at that point Prost was now his friend. At Imola, he did an in-car lap of Imola for French TV, for whom Prost was commentating.
"A special hello to our dear friend, Alain. We all miss you, Alain," Senna said.
Prost said he was amazed and touched by the comment. Given their acrimonious relationship, that wasn't surprising.
A short time later, Senna crashed when he either made a mistake or something broke on the car during the race. He went off at Tamburello and went head-on into the wall and died after being airlifted to Bologna hospital.
Prost was shattered by Senna's death, and attended his foe's state funeral in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he was a pall-bearer, along with Berger, Damon Hill, Jackie Stewart, Emmerson Ftitipaldi, Johnny Herbert and Thierry Boutsen.
Prost had time to reflect on his at times bitter and clouded relationship with Senna.
"I was proud to compete against him," he said at the time. "Professionally, he was the only driver I respected. In Senna's honour I will never sit in a Formula One car again."
Prost did test a McLaren in 1995, but never raced in F1 again, becoming a team owner with Prost from 1997 to 2002.
The teammate problems for Prost and Senna began at Imola in 1989. As McLaren teammates in 1988, Senna and Prost dominated, Senna winning eight races and Prost seven, out of 16 contested. In those days inexplicably, drivers could only count points in 11 of the 16 races, and so while Prost had 105 points to 90 for Senna, after deducting results in four races, Senna was declared champion by three points.
At the 1989 San Marino GP, Senna was on pole and Prost beside him. Senna had proposed that he and Prost have a 'no-passing' rule at the first corner. Prost agreed, and Senna got away first, but the race was red-flagged because of Berger's fiery crash.
At the restart, Prost got away first, but Senna reneged on the pre-race agreement, passing Prost at the first corner. Prost was incensed, but Senna later explained that he had overtaken Prost on the straight rather than at the corner itself, so the agreement wasn't broken.
It was a turning point in their working relationship and came to a head at the penultimate race in Suzuka where Prost led, a race Senna had to win to keep his championship hopes alive. He took a lunge down the inside at the last chicane, but Prost wasn't having it, and they collided as he turned in on the racing line.
Prost's race was done, but Senna got a push-start from marshals and went on to win the race. Or so he thought, but he was disqualified for getting assistance and Prost was the champion.
Having signed with Ferrari for 1990 to get away from Senna, the two battled for the championship again. This time, again at Suzuka, Senna deliberately drove into the rear of Prost's Ferrari and although both crashed out, Senna was the champion. These days such deliberate action would likely result in disqualification from the championship.
Prost is now an adviser with the Alpine, formerly Renault, team, where two-time champion Fernando Alonso is teamed up with Frenchman Esteban Ocon.
He will have to help manage the two driver's expectations.
"Fernando is very demanding and a perfectionist," Prost says. "He asks a lot. It's up to us to assume it. But he is aware it is probably not this year that he will be able to win races on a regular basis. What is certain is that even the point for 10th place, he will fight body and soul to bring it back."
But perhaps remembering what happened with Senna, Prost says: " We must not forget it is always the pair of drivers who make a team progress.
"If a driver is destabilised, that's not normal," Prost says.
"What is normal, however, is that a psychological game is set up. There is always one driver who gets the upper hand."
To that comment, he adds: "I have often wondered why I am the only driver who has won multiple world championships and yet accepted to stay with a teammate as much as possible. Sometimes even supporting him.
"This was the case with Ayrton Senna. I almost asked for him to be signed by McLaren. I never had a contract as a first driver.
"I could have won seven titles. There has been bad luck, there has been some cheating, the scoring system changed. But I have no regrets. What difference would it make in my life to have one more title?"
Prost says for 40 years he has been asked who the best driver ever was.
"I have never replied because I wonder if I would have been as good as [Juan Manuel] Fangio driving his car, for example.
"He was the best of his generation, like I was with Ayrton, like Michael Schumacher in his time or Lewis Hamilton today. Undeniably though, I was underrated.
"I come from Saint-Chamond, a small town in the Loire, my parents had no money. I did everything on my own, I didn't have a manager. I managed my own contracts. I was small with a crooked nose and curly hair. And I remain a four-time world champion with 51 victories."
Lewis Hamilton clearly wants at least one more title, while Verstappen just wants one for starters, but more importantly, he wants to end Hamilton's championship run, and with its history, Imola is a good place to assert himself this weekend.
