A Fast Lap at Imola with Jean
ALESI
After the pit straight, you
accelerate to the first chicane at Tamburello, which is taken in
third gear. It's quite a difficult point, because it's all about
acceleration on the way out. Of course, in the past, it was a
high-speed corner, but now it's been changed since the Senna
accident.
Then you start the run down to Tosa. You brake for another chicane;
it's quite delicate, and very easy to make a mistake in this kind of
chicane. It's taken in third. Then you arrive at the famous Tosa
corner, which is really different now, because we do not arrive with
the speed that we had in the past. It's a second gear corner, and
it's quite difficult to get traction on the way out, because of the
shape of the corner, which is off camber.
After that, it's hard acceleration uphill, going to Piratella, which
is a very exciting left-hand corner. You brake just at the top of
the hill, and for a moment the visibility is zero! Then you turn
into the corner, which is one of the fastest on the circuit, taken
in fourth gear.
From there you go down to the Acqua Minerali. This has been changed
as well, and it's very exciting, you are going very fast, nearly
flat. You have to brake hard for a long hairpin. It's a second gear
corner, again quite a difficult one to get traction. After that,
it's hard acceleration until Variante Alta, one of the most exciting
chicanes in the championship. It's very flat and very easy to make a
mistake because when you touch the kerbs you can easily lose control.
Then it's down to Rivazza Uno. Braking there is very strange because
it's downhill but it gets better during the weekend; at the
beginning, the braking distance is quite long and it starts to get
shorter and shorter as rubber goes down. There's a small
acceleration for Rivazza Due, which is not a particularly exciting
third gear corner - it's very difficult to get the rear end down on
this kind of corner. Then you accelerate down the straight before
braking for the last chicane. It's normal left/right chicane, taken
in second gear. You need to get the exit right to have a good run
down the straight.
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