Imola.
Booked on Friday, there for qualifying on Saturday.
Imola (May 2024).
A really fun last-minute trip. I only bought the tickets on the Friday. We did an overnight blast through the Channel Tunnel and down through the Alps, and arrived in time for qualifying on Saturday.
Where we stayed.
One night in Faenza, a short drive from the circuit. A big arcaded piazza, a cathedral, a clock tower, and hardly anyone about once the evening came in. Lovely at night.
Senna, 30 years on.
2024 was thirty years since Ayrton Senna died at Imola, and the whole place marked it. Banners, flags, and flowers piled up at his statue in the park by Tamburello.
The racing.
An old-school circuit with grass banks and trees, and you're close to the action. A proper race weekend.
Not the most sensible trip we've done. One of the best.
Getting there.
Last-minute: LeShuttle from Folkestone at 20:48 on the Friday, overnight through France and over the Alps, and back on the Monday morning. We paid for official parking at the circuit.
Other options: fly to Bologna, about two hours, with Ryanair from Stansted or BA from Heathrow. The Marconi Express monorail gets you from the airport to Bologna Centrale in seven minutes for about €13, then it's 20 minutes on the train to Imola and a 20-minute walk to the track. By rail all the way, it's Eurostar to Paris, on to Milan, then a Frecciarossa to Bologna. Worth knowing: Imola isn't on the 2026 calendar, though the locals are pushing for it to come back.
Where to stay.
One night in a private room in central Faenza, on Corso Giacomo Matteotti, through Airbnb.
If you base yourself in Bologna. Budget: Dopa Hostel in the university quarter. Mid-range: Art Hotel Commercianti, right by the Basilica of San Petronio, around £230. Fancy: Grand Hotel Majestic già Baglioni on Via dell'Indipendenza, around £850.
Worth doing.
Faenza at night, and the Senna statue by Tamburello. We had three-day general admission.
With more time: Piazza Maggiore and the Two Towers in Bologna, the Rocca Sforzesca in Imola, the ceramics museum in Faenza, and the Ferrari museums at Maranello or Modena, about an hour away.
