Imola Grand Prix: What is the F1 weather forecast this weekend?

F1 will make its first stop in Europe since pre-season testing in Barcelona with the Imola GP at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

Round four on the calendar will see Ferrari return to home soil as the leaders in both world drivers' championship standings as well as the constructors' one. It will also feature the first sprint race of the season.

With the 2021 race dominated by rain, what sort of weather will teams have to brave this time around?

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Weather forecast for the 2022 F1 Imola Grand Prix weekend (April 22 - April 24)

Here is some information regarding the weather forecast in Bologna and the Emilia Romagna region of Italy for the upcoming Grand Prix weekend, according to F1.com.

Friday, April 22 – FP1 and Sprint Qualifying weather

Conditions: Cloudy and wet, but conditions could improve in the afternoon.

Maximum temperature expected: 16°C | 60.8°F

Minimum temperature expected: 13°C | 55.4°F

Chance of rain: 80%

Saturday, April 23 – FP2 and Sprint Race weather

Conditions: Sunny spells expected for FP2 and the Sprint Race.

Maximum temperature expected: 21°C | 69.8°F

Minimum temperature expected: 10°C | 50°F

Chance of rain: 0%

Sunday, April 24 – Feature Race weather

Conditions: Mostly sunny day.

Maximum temperature expected: 23°C | 73.4°F

Minimum temperature expected: 14°C | 57.2°F

Chance of rain: 0%

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"Overtaking can be difficult" - Pirelli F1 boss on what fans can expect from the Imola GP

Pirelli boss Mario Isola feels the narrow nature of the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari will make it a challenge for drivers to execute overtakes during the 2022 F1 Imola GP.

Isola expects teams to deploy strategies that revolve around avoiding on-track traffic. In his pre-race briefing, the Italian said:

“Imola is an old style and challenging track, overtaking can be difficult also because the circuit is quite narrow in some points. So a strategy designed to avoid traffic is likely. The teams here start from scratch in terms of tire knowledge, both because the compounds are completely different this year and because the 2021 race was run on wet tires before the long red flag interruption. In general, Imola is an average severe track for tires, plus it is used quite often.”

Pirelli is the official tire supplier for the GT World Challenge that was held in Imola weeks before the GP weekend. According to Isola, the track could be prone to less evolution than normal as it is already rubberized.

For the race weekend, the C2 compound will be the hard tire, C3 will play the role of mediums, and C4 will be the softs.

All practice sessions and qualifying sessions, as well as the sprint race and feature race, will be broadcast on F1 TV or their app in the locales where it is available.